My Lovely Ones
by Munchkinsrus
Summary: She was the new teacher, the apprentice of Amycus Carrow. She saved him during the war and now Hogwarts is back and they see each other again. How will Sam and her daughter, Matilda, effect the uncaring Snape, who is supposedly in love with Lily Potter? How will they effect the other characters we know and love?
1. Afterwards

My lovely Ones

 **Author's note: Characters that are from Harry Potter are not made by me, only the ones that are new are made by me. Please review! Your cements help me decide what to do next. This is my first fanfiction written, so I hope you enjoy my story!**

Chapter One: Afterwards

 _One Week After The Battle Of Hogwarts_

"No!" I scream as I wake up from the dream. Why does that stupid scene keep sneaking into my dreams? Taking a look around the hospital wing, I check to see if I disturbed anyone. But the scene still snuck into my thoughts. Severus talking to Voldemort. Nagini attacking. Me jumping in front of the stupid snake. Sudden pain in my neck. Severus lying next to me. Harry, Ron, and Hermione coming in. Hermione grabbing the antidote from my bag. Hearing screams from the battle as everything goes black.

"Are you okay Samanthera?" asked Poppy as she stops at my bed. Man, she looked tired. You could clearly see the circles under her eyes.

"Yeah, sorry, bad dream." I murmured, lying back down in the white bed.

"Huh." Poppy said "it isn't that dream again, is it?" I nodded and she sighed, "Severus is having the same problem. He blames himself for your injuries."

"How is his healing coming along?" "He's coming along."

"You sure?"

"Yes Sam, I'm sure

"Okay."

"You like him, don't you?" Poppy asked after a couple seconds of silence.

"You know the circumstance I'm in! I doubt I'll trust any man again!" after I said this, I laid back down and groaned. The pain medicine had worn off.

"I'll get you your medicine." Poppy said as she started searching through the drawers to the right of my bed. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Nagini's poison didn't affect your baby and as soon as Hogwarts reopens, Minerva wants you to be the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher." She then stabbed me with a needle.

"Tell her I accept, just as long as I can find a babysitter." I said patting my stomach. "I do hope Severus and I become something someday, if I can get over Samuel." I whispered.

"Don't worry, hon, you will."

Suddenly I became very sleepy due to the medicine and fell fast asleep.

-14 months later-

"What do you mean I'm getting an apprentice?" I asked, cradling my baby Matilda in my arms.

"Sam, I know you'll like having Ginny Weasly as an apprentice." Minerva said as she stood up from Dumbledore's, no, her desk.

"It's not that I don't like Ginny, it's how she'll react to Matilda!" I replied

"I told Ms. Weasly in her letter about Matilda." Severus said in his usual lazy drawl.

"I guess I could use the help." I muttered.

"Please Sam?" Minerva said as she came by my side.

"Fine," I replied, "but if I need a babysitter, you're the 1st one I'll go to."

"Okay." Minerva answered.

 **Thank you guys for reading! I'll have the 2** **nd** **chapter out very soon. Sorry for this chapter being so short. I'll make longer ones in the future. Please comment!**


	2. Meeting With The Apprentice

Chapter 2: Meeting With The Apprentice

-August 30th, 1999-

 _Knock, Knock_

"Coming!" I shouted to the person on the other side of the door. I had been sitting at the small table, trying to feed Matilda.

"Minerva, wasn't Ginny supposed to arrive tomorrow?" I asked, rather annoyed that she changed the date on me. I wasn't even out of pajamas!

"She got here a day early." Minerva answered.

"Her room isn't ready and neither am I. I will be out in five minutes." I said hurrying inside.

When I came out of my room I say Ginny playing with Matilda on the couch in the small living room. It had a black couch, two black chairs, and a small coffee table.

"Oh! Hi!" Ginny said when she noticed me watching her. A blush creeped into her cheeks. I went and sat next to her.

"All ways wanted a younger sibling." She murmured.

"I can relate to that." I said, "I was the youngest of 11 kids."

"Wow!" Ginny said.

"Well, we better drop her off with Poppy and get a move on."

"Madam Pomfrey babysits Matilda?"

"Yeah, she and Minerva are like grandmas to her."

We soon arrived at the hospital wing to drop off Matilda. After dropping Matilda off, I led Ginny to the office and classroom and started teaching her a few teaching tricks. I was teaching her a few things about the Dark Arts when I noticed her staring at my neck.

"Oh, um sorry. I didn't mean-" Ginny said as a blush came to her face.

"It's okay. Most people stare at first." I said before she could finish her sentence. It does hurt when people stare, but I've gotten used to it. People are constantly asking me 'why did you jump between Snape and Nagini?' or 'are you the person who jumped between Nagini and Snape?'

"How did you get them?" Ginny asked.

"I'm the lady who jumped between Snape and Nagini."

"That was you? Did you do it out of love?" Ginny said with a smirk.

"Step one at being an apprentice: don't annoy your mentor or they might 'accidently' teach you the wrong thing." I said returning the smirk.

"You wouldn't Professor Lechen!" Ginny said with mock horror on her face.

"I might, but please call me Samanthera, or Sam for short."

"Okay, Sam. When is dinner?"

"In a half hour."

"Will the other teachers be there?"

"Most of them arrive tomorrow."

"Who is still teaching?"

"Severus, Fillius, Hagrid, Sybil…" I named off all the teachers still teaching. Even that annoying ghost teacher what's-his-name was still teaching.

"Wow look at the time!" Ginny said, jumping to her feet. "It's time for dinner!"

"Did traveling make you hungry?" I asked, getting up from my chair.

"Yes." Ginny answered, blushing again.

"We do have to pick up Matil from Poppy, or Poppy might keep her!" I said.

While on our walk to get Matilda, Ginny suddenly interrupted the silence.

"Do you think the students will like us?" Ginny asked.

"Well, I was here two years ago as Amycus' apprentice, if you remember correctly."

"Everyone thought you were a death eater in training, though."

"They did? I was there so he wouldn't kill anyone of the students!" I exclaimed. I was protecting them and the students thought I was a death eater!

"Yeah, the ones that stayed for the battle realized your loyalties."

I sighed, but said, "I don't know if the students will like us. I'm not them."

The remaining day went by fast and before I knew it, Ginny and Matilda were fast asleep in their rooms. When we got back from dinner, we found that the house elves had made her room.

When you entered the quarters you'd be in the living room. To the right is the small kitchen/dining room. If you went past the kitchen area, there's a hallway leading two ways. To the right is my room, Matilda's room, and a bathroom. To the left is Ginny's room, her bathroom, and a door leading into the classroom. There was bookshelves scattered all over the small area. I looked around the small, nice little area I've called my home for the past year and a half before deciding to take a relaxing bath before calling it a night too.

I woke up to Matilda screaming. I got up out of the warm blankets and groggily walked through the door that led straight from my bedroom to hers. When I went up to the crib, Matilda gave me that 'I'm sorry I woke. I'm completely innocent' look.

"Don't try that cutesy look with me." I said softly, picking her up to go give her a bath. "I know who you really are!"

"Gagsxle giddoda!" Matilda yelled as I brought her to the bathroom. She hates baths more than anything else in the world, so when I turned on the water, she started thrashing about.

"You're really good at this bath thing." Ginny said as she walks in the small bathroom.

"You can try bathing Matilda if you want to." I said, standing up to perform a warming charm on myself so my soaked clothes would dry.

"Sure, but I might need your help." Ginny said as she kneeled by the small bathtub to start washing Matilda.

After about a half hour, Matilda was bathed, dressed, and ready to go. Ginny and I took turns getting dressed so Matilda wouldn't have to be left alone. I had decided last night to not have Minerva babysit Matilda. I wanted to spend this last day with her by my side before the school year started and she would be with a babysitter almost every day.

"Can we head to the Great Hall for breakfast?" asked Ginny as she came from her room to meet me at the couch. She was pulling her wet, red hair up into a ponytail. I brushed some of my short, black curls out of my face.

"Sure." I said grabbing my bag. "After breakfast Hagrid wants us to go to his hut for tea." I added as I opened up the door for the three of us.

"Did you make your own cookies for us?"

"Of course I did. They're in the bag." I said with a smirk.

About an hour later, Ginny, Matilda, and I arrived at Hagrid's hut. He saw us coming from his pumpkin batch and came over to us.

"Ello Ginny! Ello Professor Lechen! Is this little Matilda?" Hagrid said when we got closer. You could see his beetle-black eyes twinkling under his huge beard.

"I keep telling you: call me Sam. And yes, this is Matilda." I said as Hagrid took her in his arms. She immediately started playing with his beard, causing us all to laugh.

"She's a beauty Pro- Sam." Hagrid said. "Why don't you guys come inside? I got tea boilin'."

"Oh, we brought cookies for you." Ginny said as we walked inside the small hut.

"Thanks o' lot Hagrid said as he took the box of cookies from Ginny's hand. He fumbled around the hut looking for a plate.

"Acio clean plate." I said and a clean plate flew into my hands, which I handed to Hagrid.

"Thanks Sam! You'll have to teach me that me that spell someday. Did o' here I got me magic privileges back, Ginny?" he said as he put the cookies on the plate, the tea in the three mugs, handed us each a mug, and sat down.

"Sam and I would be happy to teach you Hagrid! Consider it paying you back for the wonderful lessons you always gave me." Ginny said enthusiastically.

"I do have to thank o' again Sam for helping me in the court room." Hagrid said turning to me. Ginny, Matilda, and I sat on his couch, while Hagrid sat in his chair.

"You helped him out in the court room?" Ginny said, also turning to me.

"Yeah." I said. "Two years ago, I had a little contact with Hagrid and when I heard about him not being able to do magic, I promised him that after the war I'd help get him his magic privileges back." I blushed a little at their stares.

After having tea with Hagrid, I showed Ginny and Matilda the other teachers. They cooed over Matilda and talked to Ginny as an adult instead of their student. The rest of the day flew by and I was soon putting Matilda to bed. I kissed her goodnight and laid her in her crib. I then headed to my room. Tomorrow, my baby girl, Ginny, and I will be introduced to the world, and I don't care what they think of Matilda, me or Ginny.


	3. Student Time!

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Harry Potter characters. The only ones I own are the ones that come from my own head.**

 _Chapter three: Student Time!_

"Come on Matilda! Get in this dress!" I said frustrated at my darling baby girl.

"Can I help Sam?" Ginny asked as she walked in Matilda's room, where I was failing at putting Matilda's dress on her.

"Yes, can you get her in this dress while I change?" I asked, hopeful that she'll say yes.

"Sure." She said, laughing. "I can't turn down the puppy dog look in your eyes!"

About 15 minutes later, we were all ready and were heading to the Great Hall. We got there in silence. When we got there, I took my spot next to Severus as Ginny cautiously climbed into the other seat next to me. I set Matilda in my lap and placed a toy lion, snake, eagle, and badger, for the Hogwarts houses, in my lap.

"I like the snake the best." Severus drawled from next to me.

"Typical, I like all of them except the snake." I said smiling at Matilda, who was banging the eagle and the lion together.

"Really, and why is that?" Severus asked with a smirk.

"You know that I never cared for the stupid rivalries between the houses."

The conversation was interrupted by the loud return of the students. Soon after, the first years came in, led by tiny Fillius, to be sorted. After the sorting, Fillius took his seat and food appeared on the golden plates. Hermione Granger, the new transfiguration teacher, was sitting on the other side of Ginny, so she had someone to talk to.

"Still taking soft foods too?" Severus muttered.

"Yeah." I answered.

"How's Matilda?" he asked after a minute of silence.

"She's loud, hates baths, but I love her more than anything else." I replied.

"It's strange how the students haven't seen a baby or wounded teachers before." Severus said with his familiar smirk. It was true to say that every single teacher had a scar or two, but I guess mine and Severus' were the most noticeable. I kept seeing the students staring in my direction.

"I guess they're curious between whose baby this is," as I said this I stated playing with one of Matilda's dark brown curls, "and why I jumped in between you and Nagini."

"Why did you jump between me and Nagini?"

"I felt you didn't deserve to die by a stupid snake." I said after a moment of thinking. We finished eating in silence. When I was done, I fed Matilda her bottle and let Ginny, Hermione, Minerva, and Sybel hold her.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts!" Minerva said as she stood to give a speech when the desserts had disappeared. This caused very loud clapping, making Matilda cry. I quickly quieted her down, but the students had already noticed and started staring at me and Matilda again.

"As some of you have realized, we have some new members to the staff table. I am the new headmistress. Professor Snape is once again the potions teacher. Professor Lechen is the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. We have two teacher apprentices: Ms. Weasly and Mr. Longbottom. As some of you are wondering, the baby is Matilda, Professor Lechen's daughter." This news immediately started whispers, "Before you guys get too chatty, I'd like to inform you to stay out of the Dark Forest and Professor Hagrid has gotten his magic privileges back. Now, off to bed!"

"Sam, could I see you in my office in ten minutes?" Severus said in his lazy drawl.

"Sure. Ginny, time to go." I said as I picked up Matilda and her bag and stood up.

"Coming Sam." Ginny said.

"When we get to our quarters, can you watch Matilda? I have something I need to do."

"Sure."

As the three of us walked to our quarters, I heard the whispers and saw the stares from the students. They weren't that quiet about it either. Their gazes slid from Matilda to my neck.

It seemed like eternity before I dropped Matilda off with Ginny and got to Severus' office.

 _Knock. Knock._

"Come in." he said.

I opened the creaking door and closed it behind me.

"Sit." Severus said, pointing at a chair. I felt like one of the many students he had given detention or sent to his office.

"Why'd you call me in here?" I asked as I took sat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk that he was on.

"I want to know the truth. Why did you jump between me and Nagini?"

"You mean to tell me that you ignored for over a year and know you want to talk?" I said, not hiding the hurt and anger in my voice.

"It wasn't safe to talk. Even now some of Voldemort's minions are out there, plotting revenge!" Severus' usually calm voice had become loud and angry as he said this.

"I'll see you around." I said as I got up to leave. The nerve of some people!

"Sam, wait!" he called out to me.

"Why should I?"

"Why did you try to save me?"

I paused in the doorway and said, "I told you already." before walking out the door.

"Quiet." I said as I walked in the classroom. The first years, who had been whispering about me, instantly became silent.

"I am Professor Lechen and this is Ms. Weasly. I know a lot of you think I was a death eater in training two years ago, I wasn't. I was merely there to make sure the Carrows didn't kill any students. In fact, I was part of the Order. I love to joke around and I'd appreciate if you stopped staring at my neck. Now, take out a quill and a piece of parchment…

The lessons continued and all of the students relaxed around me. It was really nice teaching them and Ginny really enjoyed teaching them too.

"Quiet!" I yelled, sending three sparks from my wand. "If you guys want to goof off, then you won't get to fight the Bogart!" that quieted the loud third year Hufflepuffs and Slytherians. "Good, now let's get in a straight line behind David. Ginny, make sure they don't fight. Now, I'll teach you what to do before I open the chest containing the Bogart."

After about three weeks of lessons, the students finally trusted and liked me. I even heard a few rumors about some seventh year boys liking me. I hope those rumors are false! Some, however, were surprised to find I was part of the Order of Phoenix. Being in the Order helped me teach them how to defend themselves and others from evil wizards. This also helped them respect me more, which was a huge bonus!

Lessons went one every day. Ginny and I taught about dementors, bogarts, the unforgivable curses, mad giants, spiders, harmful spells, vampires, dueling, and a lot more! Soon I found it to be October 30th and teachers were preparing for the annual teacher's dance the next day. While students made up stories about what each teacher was going to do.

"Sam!" Poppy called out to me at dinner as she came to sit next to me. "Are you going to dance with Severus tomorrow night?" she whispered as she sat down next to me.

"Not like you'd even remember if I did. You always get too drunk at parties and dances," I replied, annoyed that she, once again, brought up me and Severus.

"You guys are perfect for each other! You look like you could be his sister. Both of you are sarcastic and flare up easily. Even how you two met at the Order meeting seems to show that destiny pulled you guys together." Minerva, who was sitting next to her, almost skirted milk out of her nose because she was laughing so hard.

"Wow Poppy!" Minerva finally managed to say. "I bet Sam completely believes you in every way possible and will follow your advice! Just a warning, Sam, the last time I followed Poppy's brilliant wisdom I ended up in detention for three weeks!"

"I bet that's your plan, Poppy! If I get put in detention, then you'll be able to babysit Matilda more!" I exclaimed.

"Where is Matilda anyway?" Poppy asked through her laughter.

"At my mum's house." I replied.

"Will we ever meet your mother?" Minerva asked.

"Probably not. She's a muggle." I said, picturing my hard working mum.

"What about your dad?" Poppy asked.

"He was a wizard, but one of Voldemort's minions who died in a fight."

"But none of those idiots had the last name Lechen." Minerva said.

"I have my mum's maiden name. She divorced my dad when I was finishing my seventh year. When he left and joined Voldemort's ranks a few weeks after the divorce, I changed my last name to Lechen."

"How did he die?" Poppy asked and Minerva shot her a death stare.

"I killed him."

"What!" Minerva and Poppy squawked, drawing the eyes of students.

"He found out where Harry, Lily, and James were and was trying to get the news to Voldemort. I-I couldn't let him do that, so I killed him." I said. I didn't really care that he was dead. I know that sounds heartless, but he was never a father to me. Ever since I was little, he tried to make me do bad things.

"I'm terribly sorry." Minerva said.

"He was never a true father." I said, "He often hurt me and my mum. I'm just glad he's not hurting anyone anymore."

"Is that why you look like-" Poppy started.

"Yes, that is why I look like I haven't seen the sun for months, look deathly skinny, and boney." I answered with a smirk.

"See! Both you and Severus smirk all the time…."

I sighed as I tuned one of my closest friends out.

The night went by and nothing unusual happened until Severus came to my quarters and was acting very strange. I have a bad feeling he overheard my conversation with Poppy and Minerva. I sighed, laying in my bed, as my mind began to wander. First about Severus, then about my family, then to teaching, then to Ginny, then to my coworkers, and finally back to Severus. I had no idea why my mind keeps going back to him. I guess it's because if I don't dance with him tomorrow Poppy will murder me, bring me back to life and kill me again. I sighed, turned over, and fell asleep, picturing that adorable smirk of his.

 **Author's Note: I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I'll update the chapters if I see any errors. Thank you for reading! Please comment!**


	4. Halloween Fun

**Chapter Four: Halloween**

"Today we will begin our chapter about werewolves." I said over the noise of the fourth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. I shot out three sparks from my wand and the teenagers were quiet instantly. "Mr. Smith," I said as I walked up to the talking Gryffindor, "if you want to ignore what I am teaching, perhaps you already know the information and would like to teach the class your knowledge?"

"Sure." He said with a stupid smile.

"What is a werewolf?" I asked smirking when he stopped smiling.

"I don't know."

"Is there a cure for being a werewolf?"

"I don't know Professor."

"How do you become a werewolf?"

"I don't know. Maybe you should teach us this information?"

"Of course. Thank you, Mr. Smith, for showing the others to that you should be quiet in my class or you'll get punished." I said, "One more peep out of you, and you'll have detention." I added in a whisper.

"Professor?" Ginny asked.

"Yes?"

"Can I try teaching this lesson? I know a lot about werewolves."

"Sure."

The rest of the day went by fast, and before I knew it Ginny and I were in our office correcting some of the many tests and homework assignments.

"Sam, I'm not sure if this answer is correct or not." Ginny said. Ginny had been doing a wonderful job the past two months. She'll make a great teacher.

"I'll help you tomorrow since it's an off day. We need to get ready for the feast." I replied.

About ten minutes later, Ginny and I were heading to the Great Hall. In the crowd, I instantly brought my arm over the spot where Matilda would've been if she wasn't at my mother's house. I sighed and put my arm back down. When we arrived, I sat between Minerva and Severus, while Ginny sat by Neville and Hermione.

"The Great Hall looks nice. Minerva said.

"Yeah, it's nice to see it looking spooky once more for Halloween." I said. There was floating jack-o-lanterns, a fake full moon being covered with clouds, and werewolf howls. There was even some bats flying around.

"The students seem excited to be back for Halloween. My favorite part is the flickering lights." Minerva said.

"It'll be nice to celebrate later without the students. You can only handle so much of them." I said

"I do agree, Sam, that the students can be tiring." Severus said in his silky drawl. We hadn't talked much since the night in his office. Poppy then asked Severus if they could switch spots, and he said yes.

"Why'd you want to switch places with Severus?" I asked when Poppy had sat down. I think I know the answer.

"I didn't want you to mess up your chance with Severus." called it. "Plus I found out from an inside source that he likes you!" Poppy said in a whisper as she sat down.

"What's the source?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"I found a letter to his mother describing a woman who looks just like you, has a baby girl named Matilda, and has a wonderful personality. I also may have read his mind." Poppy said with a smirk.

"I don't believe a word you just said."

"Why is that?" Poppy asked, looking confused.

"You're always trying to set me up with him. It's annoying."

"So?"  
"Plus you're too nice to read anyone's mail."

"Maybe I took some drastic measures."

"That's like me performing wand less magic: not going to happen."

"You should try wand less magic!"

"Why? I'd be no good at it."

"You don't know that."

"Maybe I do."

"You're always putting yourself down. Try now or I will reveal your secrets to the world." Poppy said with strange authority in her voice. Knowing she won't stop bugging me until I try, I concentrate hard on making my fork rise. I raised my hand a few inches above my fork and it rose!

"I guess you were right, Poppy." I said, excited at my accomplishment. I had only ever dreamed of performing wand less magic. I was never able to do it so I gave up trying and accepted I would never be that good.

"When am I not right?" Poppy asked.

"When you try setting your friends up without permission." Minerva said, joining the conversation. This caused all three of us to burst out laughing, inviting curious stares from the students and the rest of the staff.

After everyone had eaten all that they could, the students headed off to bed, while the rest of the staff and I got the Great Hall set up for the dance. I was dressed in my dark blue long dress with my black teacher robes over it.

"Hello Sam." said a silky drawl from behind me. When I turned around I say Severus holding a glass of firewhisky.

"Hello Severus." I replied. I thought I saw his eyes look over my body for a second, but I'm not sure.

"Firewhisky?" he asked, offering me a glass.

"Thank you." I said taking the extra glass out of his hand. It tasted good when I took a big sip of the burning liquid.

We talked for a while, laughing and having a good time.

"Remember that one time when we were dueling and I beat you within 30 seconds?" I said.

"No, I beat you fair and square!" and with that I stuck my tongue out at him, causing us both to laugh.

"I didn't know you could laugh, Severus!"

"I'm not always serious!"

"Doubt it."

"You just saw me laugh!"

"True, but that was probably the first time in years!"

"No it wasn't!"

"Really? Wow!" I said with a thick layer of sarcasm.

After about an hour or two, I started to feel the effects of the alcohol, and see it on the other staff members. Some of them were slurring when they talked, while others weren't walking straight. Of course there were some, like Minerva, who wouldn't even look at the alcohol. I'm very glad that the students were in bed.

"Come on, Sammy! Go ask him to dance!" Poppy said, her voice slurring badly. After talking to Severus for a while, I had decided to talk to some of my other friends.

"I've told you before Poppy; I am friends with Severus, nothing more." I said, annoyed.

"Oh come on! Are you really waiting for him to ask you?" Poppy said. Apparently she heard something different than what I actually said. "I happen to know that the waltz will be next, followed by a slow song." She added with an evil smirk.

Before the current song ended, I saw Severus walking out a door that leads outside. I left Poppy standing there and went after him. I found him standing not far from the door, so we could still hear the music.

"What are you doing here Sam?" Severus asked.

"To be by you." I answered, smirking as the waltz began to play.

"May I have this dance?" he asked in his lazy drawl, offering me his hand.

"Of course." I answered, noticing the slightest slur in my voice.

We danced in the cool night air to the soft tune of the music. I rested my head on his chest as he drew me close to him. When the song changed to a slower one, our dancing changed to swaying and holding each other close. It was nice. When the song ended, we looked up at each other. I couldn't hide my smile when I saw his familiar smirk. I then pulled him in for a kiss. It was wonderful. I couldn't image anything better at the moment.

Then we both realized what was going on. We broke apart from each other, embarrassed. I'm glad the darkness hid my blush. We stood there a few moments, thinking of what to say to the other one.

"I-I shouldn't have." Severus muttered.

"Let's not change anything between us."

"Agreed. Goodnight Sam."

"Goodnight Severus." I said back. And with that, he stalked back into the castle, leaving me alone outside. What had just happened?

"Hey teach!" I heard a seventh year yell from one of the towers. "Who are you and who were you snogging?"

I walked down to the lake and stared into the black water. I can't believe what had just happened. I headed into back into the castle after a few minutes. I decided to call it a night and head to my quarters.

When I got there, I found Ginny asleep in her bed. Hearing the door open disturbed Matilda. I'm glad I heard her whimpers before she started screaming and woke up Ginny.

"There, there, my Matilda." I said as I walked into her room. I picked her up and brought her into the kitchen to give her a bottle. After she was done, I put my baby girl in her crib.

"Don't worry, my Matilda, I will always keep you safe from harm. I promise you." I said as I kissed her forehead and walked to the door.

"I promise you." I repeated before going through the door to my room.

 **Author's note: I do not own any characters from Harry Potter. I only own the ones that come from my own brain. Thank you for reading and please comment!** **(:**


	5. Seeing Him Again

**Chapter Five: Seeing Him Again**

"Sam, Poppy's here to see you!" I heard Ginny call as I woke up.

"Be out in a minute!" I said as I groggily got out from under the warm blankets and changed into some robes. It took a few moments for me to remember everything that had happened last night. When I did, I thought last night was a dream.

"Sorry that took so long." I said as I came out of my room, pulling my hair up into a messy ponytail. "Ginny, did you feed and dress Matilda?" I said, shocked when I saw Matilda sitting in the middle of the room and playing with her lion, eagle, badger, and snake toys.

"Yeah. She started crying and I figured you got home late. Your mom was here. She's really nice." Ginny said, smiling at me.

"That's weird. My mother never comes inside Hogwarts." I murmured. "Anyway. So, Poppy, why did you decide to visit us on this lovely November first?" I added.

"Good morning to you too." Poppy said, a little hurt at my attitude. She was sitting on the couch. "Do you want Ginny to listen to your story about last night?"

"Sure, why not." I said sitting down in my chair in a huff. Why does she care about me and Severus so much? There are other men out there who like me as more than a friend, like the famous Harry Potter. He stares at me blank faced and googly eyed and acts strange. It's kind of funny.

"You sure Sam?" Poppy asked a shocked look on her face.

"Yeah, as long as you don't tell anybody." I said.

"Of course not!" Ginny said.

"Well then you can stay." I said as I reclined the chair.

"So, you and Severus?" Poppy asked with a smirk on her face. Her saying this received a shocked look on Ginny's face. Ginny was playing with Matilda and her toys.

"You and Severus are a thing?" Ginny asked.

"No." I said as, just as Poppy said yes.

"Poppy!"

"Sorry." She said smirking. "Anyway, what happened last night?"

I told my story to them and they seemed pretty shocked. I would've been too if I hadn't been there.

"So you didn't bring him in for a kiss?"

"Poppy! I'm warning you!"

"Sorry."

"That's practically what he meant."

"What are you talking about?" Ginny said. Matilda had started crawling to me, so I picked her up and cradled her. She was a normal sized seven month old.

"I can't remember his exact words, but there were along the lines of 'I shouldn't have' and 'let's not change our relationship'." I said as I started playing with Matilda's hair.

"So are you guys dating now?" Ginny asked.

"No, Gin, I am not dating Severus. We are just friends." I said as I sighed. What had happened to our close friendship? HE had kept me safe from Amycus care no, and I gave him someone to talk to when no one else in the Order trusted him.

"But she will be soon!" Poppy squealed.

"Poppy!" I yelled as I threw one of the throw pillows at her. This resulted in a massive pillow fight. No one really won. After a while, we all grew tired and hungry, so the four of us headed to lunch. Some of the students looked at us funny. We had feathers all over our robes and were laughing like crazy.

"My goodness, you four. What have you done?" Minerva asked when we sat at down at the staff table.

"Nothing." I said, trying to look as innocent as possible. It didn't work.

"Oh really?" Minerva said as looked at us over her glasses.

"We may or may not have attacked each other with the very dangerous pillows." Ginny said, also trying to look as innocent as possible. It didn't work for her either.

"Is this true Poppy?"

"Yes, and it was super fun!" Poppy said.

"I want to ask what happened, but I am a little afraid of the answer I'll get." Severus said as he walked past where we were sitting.

"The pillows are a little dangerous." Poppy said.

Severus rolled his eyes and walked out of the Great Hall. Poppy quickly told Minerva about what happened between me and Severus last night. I did have to correct her when she said we both confessed our never ending love for each other.

"I keep telling her it was just too much alcohol, but she won't listen." I said.

"That's just how Poppy is: fun until it comes to trying to set her friends up on dates." She responded.

"Hey!"

"You have to admit it, Poppy, what they're saying is completely true." Ginny said.

"I can't help but be a little upset at their hurtful comments. Plus, I know Sam and Severus are meant for each other. I feel it." Poppy said.

"Sometimes her feelings are correct. She is the one who set me and Albus up." Minerva said, a sad look crossing her face when she mentioned her late husband. They were so cute together.

"Hey, you know what?" I said.

"What?" Poppy said. She was probably hoping I'd confess my love for Severus.

"I'll try dating someone who actually likes me. Maybe the boy who lived, for example."

"No, you'll ruin any chance you already have with your true love!"

"Oh, I almost forgot." Minerva said. "Sam, I think you should start a dueling class for fifth years and up."

"Sure. I can arrange that." I said. "They do need to learn how to duel in case-"

"Exactly." Minerva said.

The days went on, and I soon found myself teaching a dueling class in old classroom. All the desks had been pushed aside and a riser had been placed in the middle of the large room.

"Mr. David Yandel, can you come up here?" I asked the nervous fifth year. "You aren't in trouble, I just needed a worthy opponent." I added quickly. His face brightened as he came up on the riser.

"Now," I said, "to start out a duel, you need to do it the proper way. First you face each other and bow, then you walk three steps back, and finally, you turn around and fire. David and I will demonstrate and try to disarm the other one. I don't want Mr. Yandel destroying me."

We demonstrated the procedure and Mr. Yandel disarmed me. However, I had been practicing wand less magic and disarmed him with a wave of my hand. The students were amazed.

"How'd you do that?" David asked, a look of wonder in his eyes. All the other students had the same dumbfounded look in their eyes.

"You'll learn eventually. Some of you may never be able to do it, some might be able to do now, and some might be able to when they get older and more powerful." I said. "Now, everyone partner up and practice. We are only disarming them and nothing else."

As they "dueled", I watched them. They were doing very well and were well on their way to be master duelers. Sadly, four kids had to be taken to the hospital wing due to others not following my directions and casting powerful spells.

As the lessons continues, the students progressed more and more. Soon, the last lesson came and they were prepared. Each one dueled me. No one casted a dangerous spell the entire time. It was a real duel. Soon I was on the last kid. Jeremy Netro. He was a brutal kid.

"Ready?" I said and he nodded a yes. The duel was fast and he proved himself a worthy opponent. I had beaten him after a couple of minutes and was walking to the desk where I kept the papers saying whether they passed or not. I was going to stamp Jeremy's paper as passed. All of a sudden, pain shot through every limb of me. I heard screaming. The second the pain stopped, I looked around the room. I noticed someone running out the door.

"Stop!" I yelled at the figure. I ran out the door and soon caught up to the person.

"Hello, Sammy." a wicked voice said.

"Hello, Samuel." I said, casting spells as fast as I could while blocking his.

"Professor Lechen!" a girl screamed.

"Go get help!" I yelled to her. I wasn't going to be able to finish the man I once loved.

Someone came running up to us and started dueling by my side. It was Jeremy. The rest of the class quickly followed. We soon overpowered Samuel. A kid had disarmed him and he wasn't able to do wand less magic. Minerva came running up, with Poppy, to take him away. Poppy checked to make sure no one was hurt.

"Professor, your robe!" said a fifth year girl. When I looked at my robe, I noticed the part around my right thigh was soaked with blood.

"Poppy." I said calmly as I sat down and lifted up my robe.

"Yeah?" she said as she walked over. When she say my leg she immediately got to work. There was a big gash in the middle of my right thigh, but the weird thing is that it didn't hurt at all. Normally if your leg is cut open you feel something, but I didn't feel a thing.

"Class!" I said over the talking. "In case you didn't know, the curse he used on me in the classroom was the imperious curse. It is one of the unforgivable curses and if you get hit with it during a duel, you're most likely dead meat."

"Can I see my daughter?" I heard Samuel say.

I stood up and walked up to where he was bounded by ropes to a door and slapped him hard across his face.

"She is not your daughter." I growled, spitting venom. I was almost shaking with rage. Either that, or I was shaking due to the amount of blood loss. I moved away from him and sat back down by Poppy. She continued her work while the students stared at me.

"By the way," I said, "Everyone passed. I will give you the sheet when I see you during class. You are dismissed." They drifted away a moment or two after I said this. They kept sending curious glances my way. I didn't really care.

"All set." Poppy said after a moment. Samuel had been dragged away by Minerva, so it was just Poppy and me left in the hallway.

"Thanks, Poppy." I said as I stood up. Now I can feel the piercing pain in my leg.

"I'm terribly sorry you had to see him again after he did those things to you." Poppy said as he hugged me.

"Thank you, Poppy." I choked out. We stood there in the hallway, hugging and crying. Poppy crying for me and Samuel. I crying for her and Moody, Samuel, and my darling Matilda. After a bit, both of us had run out of tears.

"I'm sort of happy he raped me." I said as we broke apart.

"What are you talking about?" Poppy exclaimed, looking at me as if I was crazy.

"If he hadn't, Matilda wouldn't be here right now."

"You were raped?!" a noisy sixth year boy exclaimed. He had been hiding behind a mostly closed door, listening to us.

"Yes." I said. I then walked away, heading to my quarters where Matilda was waiting for me, unaware her lousy father had been in the building, looking for her.

 **Author's note: I do** **NOT** **own the original Harry Potter characters. Please comment! :)**


	6. My Family

December came by rather quickly, and Samuel and I had become old news. The gash in my leg had healed, but I was still terrified. It turned out that Samuel had escaped the aurors and had run off somewhere. No one knows where, and I know he wants to hurt me and take Matilda away from me.

All of a sudden, a snowball hit me in the back. I was standing by the lake in the middle of a snow ball war apparently. I turned around to see scared third years staring at me. Without showing any emotion, I picked up some snow and shaped it into a ball. I threw it into their midst, which started the battle again. All of us were soon covered with snow from head to toe.

"Professor Lechen!" Minerva shouted as she walked to where I was in the grounds.

"Yes?" I said as I walked towards her. The battle immediately stopped. I felt like a student who had just gotten in trouble.

"Stop messing around and go do the paperwork I asked you to do!"

"I did it. You weren't in there, so I set it on your desk." as I said this, I saw the color in her face disappear and felt the color in mine disappear. The papers that have all the information about the Order and its members, were missing. Samuel and some other formal Death Eaters could have taken them.

"Oh crud!" I exclaimed as I started running towards the castle. They couldn't be stolen, they couldn't have! Could they have been stolen? No, Death Eaters wouldn't have been able to get in. Somehow Samuel had gotten in…

"Severus!" I yelled when I got to the castle. He was standing in the enterence. "Have you seen the Order papers?" I asked.

"Why yes. I saw one of the house elves giving it to an owl. She said she was told to mail it to Harry Potter."

"Thanks Sev!" I said as Minerva came up to us.

"So?" she asked.

"A House Elf mailed it already." I said. "Thanks for getting me. I lost track of time and have a class in 10 minutes."

The rest of December went by very quickly. Before I knew it, Christmas break had started and only about 30 teachers and students remained at Hogwarts.

"I'm grateful for this much needed break." Ginny said at the breakfast after almost everyone had left. She was also going to be leaving later that day.

"Same." I said. I was looking around the Great Hall, astonished at the beautiful 12 ginormous Christmas trees that were in there. They were truly breathtaking.

"It is a relief not having annoying children around." Severus said in his lazy drawl.

"I agree, Severus, that it is a relief not having annoying children in your lap that you have to feed and wrestle into clothes every morning." I said with a smirk as I played with Matilda on my lap.

"All the reasons." Severus said, returning the smirk.

"Will you two be quiet?" Ginny said, sounding very annoyed.

"What for?" I asked.

"I want to hear how quiet the Great Hall is when no one's talking!"

When we shut up, it was quiet, alright. Too quiet for the Great Hall. It was a spooky silence that no one wanted to ruin, except my joyful Matilda. She was babbling more than before.

"Um, Samanthera?" Hagrid asked from the seat across from me. The five tables had been replaced by one long table with chairs on both sides.

"Yes Hagrid?" I asked. Wonder what he wants.

"Mayba could ya teach me some o' the spells I didn't learn." He murmured. I couldn't see his face, due to his beard, but I bet he was blushing.

"Sure. Stop at my classroom at two tomorrow. That okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Samanthera." Hagrid said. He was one of the only ones still alive that still called me Samanthera instead of Sam.

"Your welcome. I hope you don't mind that Matilda will be there." I said. Ginny would have gone home for the break by then, so I would have the office all to myself. "If you excuse me, I have to go talk to Minerva." After I had picked up Matilda from my lap and sad goodbye to Hagrid, I started heading towards Minerva's office.

"Come in." she said when I knocked on the door.

"Minerva." I said. She looked up from the papers she was writing on.

"Hello Sam. State your business, I'm busy." She said, looking back down at her papers.

"I was curious if my mom could come here for Christmas."

"Didn't you say your mom is a muggle?"

I sighed before continuing. "Don't tell anyone this, okay." Minerva nodded, so I continued "She doesn't like to admit it, but she's a squib. She doesn't like me telling others." I muttered.

"Oh." She said sounding a little shocked. "Well, I'll think about it. Best be on your way now."

"Goodbye Minerva." I said as I walked out door. That had gone smoother than expected. I went to my quarters, grabbed my broom, and said goodbye and merry Christmas to Ginny. I headed out to the grounds and took off with Matilda in my arms. The few students that were outside stared in amazement at my flying skills. Well, I was a Quidditch champion back in my day. Man that makes me sound old. I did a loop the loop for them before heading to my mum's house.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hello Sammy!" my mother called as I landed in her yard.

"Hello mum!" I said as she hugged Matilda and me.

"How are some of my two favorite girls?"

"Perfect mum." I said laughing. My mother is 86 and is as youthful as a 15 year old.

"Hi Sam." My brother, Richard, said as he pulled me into a hug.

"Hey Richey! This is Matilda." He hadn't seen me since before Matilda was born, so I had to introduce her to him.

"Vicky, Ivy, Hannah, Thomas, David, Nathan, Alexandro, Brian, and Sarah are all here."

"Couldn't you have just said all of them are here?" I said, teasingly punching him in the arm. I was a little scared to go inside because Vicky, David, Hannah, and Brian followed the same path as my stupid father.

"Hey Sam! How's Matil?" Ivy asked. She and I were always close, even though she's the second oldest.

"Great, you?" I asked. The night went on and my siblings behaved themselves. Vicky was acting a little weird the entire time, but I ignored it. After I had been there almost six hours, I headed outside for some fresh air.

"Hello Sam. How's Samuel?" Vicky asked. She had followed me outside and her pale skin and wide blue eyes glowed in the moonlight.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You know, Matilda's father?" she said smirking, her eyes flickering to the small, innocent child in my arms.

"Hello, Samanthera." Said that evil voice from behind me. I turned around to find Samuel. Pain flashed through me. I fell to the ground. I heard screaming. I felt Vicky's hands try to grab Matilda out of my arms. I refused to let her take my baby girl.

"Sam!" I heard someone shout. The pain stopped and when I stood up, more death eaters had arrived. Some members of the Order had shown up and were fighting the others. Good thing my mum lives in a wizard populated town. I quickly joined the fight, protecting my Matilda with all I got. I blasted as many of the death eaters as I could. Some of them apparated away as others fell. Soon, Order members outnumbered the death eaters three to one.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Stupefy!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The fighting went on, and spells rang out in the crisp, night air, until, at last, all the death eaters had been caught or had apparated away.

"Samanthera! Are you and Matilda okay?" my mother asked as she came running up to me. I'm glad she wasn't hurt, due to the fact she can't defend herself.

"Yes, mum, I'm okay." I said, hugging the older woman. She was a tight hugger. The rest of my family came up and hugged me. All except for Vicky, who had been captured by the Order. Samuel, however, had gotten away.

"Professor Lechen." Minerva said as she came up behind me. "Your duties are needed at Hogwarts." When she noticed my large family. "Mrs. Lechen, Sam said you would like to come for dinner?" my mum nodded, "You are invited, and same with the rest of you. The more the merrier!"

"We'll be happy to come!" my mum said. "Well, not all of us." She added as tears came to her eyes and she looked at Vicky.

"Take care mum." I whispered in her ear as I hugged her. "Bye everyone!" Minerva, Matilda, and I held hands as we apparated away to Hogwarts.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Who was that girl your mum was staring at?" Minerva asked as we walked through the doors into Hogwarts.

"My sister Vicky. She and three other of my siblings followed my dad as their leader."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Not your fault, so don't apologize." I said, smirking at the old woman.

"But, it's just-"

"After Rich, Ivy Sarah, Nathan, Thomas, Alexandro, and me joined the Order?"

"Yeah. Miss Terras, shouldn't you be in bed." Minerva's voice went from sympathetic to strict teacher rather quickly.

"I was sent to look for you two. While you guys were gone, some Order members showed up, including Harry Potter." the tall fifth year Hufflepuff said.

"Thank you, Emily." I said as I ran to the Great Hall, still holding Matilda. I got there rather quickly.

"Sam! Glad you're safe!" Remus said as he hugged me.

"How's Tonks and Teddy?" I asked.

"They're great. Couldn't make though."

"What's the meeting about?" I asked.

"The Death Eaters are rising." Remus said in a whisper.

"So that's what happened tonight?"

"I'm afraid so. Samuel is up in the ranks, so they really wanted to get Matilda from you."

"Attention!" Harry yelled over the chatter of 100+ people. Everyone instantly became quiet. "Students please return to your dorms." When the students were all gone, he continued. "Earlier this evening, we found out that Ron Weasly was under the imperious curse. When given a powerful truth potion he confessed everything. I'm afraid that the Death Eaters have created their own organization. They tried to attack Sam Lechen and Matilda at her mother's house. Many of them were captured."

Murmurs rose from the people around me. Harry, who was standing on a broom flying above everyone, was looking down on me with carrying eyes. I could feel other people's eyes on me too. I wanted to run to my room and cry.

"We will fight as much as possible. Those who are new to the Order and no one else knows it, do not tell anyone. We will fight them and win."

"How come we just found out about? Wouldn't the Death Eaters do stuff to muggles that would get on the _Daily Profit_?" Hermione asked from somewhere in the huge crowd.

"They have people in the Ministry that are keeping things quiet." Harry responded. The rest of the meeting went on. We now had about 100 people in the Order, so giving out duties took a while. I was told to stay at Hogwarts with the other teachers. It was the safest place for Matilda to be with her mad father on the loose.

When the meeting ended, Poppy insisted on checking those who had been fighting for injuries. If any of us had injuries that were bad enough to need Poppy's skills, we would've know. People were coming up to me and giving me hugs, making sure I knew I wasn't alone. I just wanted to be alone! Well, alone with my Matilda.

"Are you all right, Sam?" Severus asked from behind me. I turned around, nodded, and hugged him. I had tears going down my cheeks. Samuel was going to try to hurt Matilda!

"Here," he said in his comforting, lazy drawl, "I'll take you to your room."

 _The people remaining in the Great Hall were wandering when Severus and Sam would realize their feelings for the other one. Except for Harry, who was wandering when Sam would notice him._

"Thanks Sev." I said when we reached my rooms.

"Your welcome, Sam. I am truly sorry that vial human being tried to attack you."

"I've never heard you say the words 'I'm sorry' before! I was beginning to think you didn't know how to."

"Whenever I show any kindness, you go after me for it." He said, smirking.

"Night Sev."

"Night Sam."

I went into my home and put Matilda to bed. I then laid on my bed, crying, until I fell asleep from exhaustion.

 **Author's Note: Pretty please with cherries and bananas on top, comment! Sorry for any grammar or spelling errors. I don't have anyone check through it, so my mistakes are my own. Please tell me if you find a mistake; I will update the chapter with the error fixed as soon as possible! (:**


	7. Christmas Time

**Christmas Time**

The next day was Christmas Eve and I soon realized that the students are good spies. Maybe Harry should hire them for the Order. They listened to the entire conversation last night. They found out exactly what happened. Knowing this, it felt good to just sit on my bed and cradle Matilda in my arms.

"Sam, unlock this door!" I heard Minerva yell from the other side of my bedroom door. I had locked it because I knew Minerva, Sybel, Poppy, or someone else was going to break into my quarters.

"Sam, please! It's almost noon, and you need to eat something!" Poppy said. Oh, maybe all three of them are here.

"Open this door or we will break it down!" Sybel yelled. Yep, all three of them. Sighing, I stood up and opened the door.

"We are going to dress you up!" Poppy said, beaming at the horrid thought. They aren't going to stop bothering me until I let them, so why not? What could possibly go wrong? Well, except for everything, nothing could go wrong.

"What horrors do you three have in mind?" I asked. They got started right away. They made me go shopping with them in crowded Diagon Alley. Everyone was buying last minute Christmas presents. I didn't have enough money to buy anything, but they forced me to come with them anyway. We got some diapers and two dresses for Matilda, and that's about it. After shopping, we went to a small, cheap restaurant and had a late lunch. Matilda was getting sleepy, so all of us headed back to Hogwarts. The students that were playing on the grounds were surprised to see that we were all friends.

"What now?" I asked cautiously. Who knows what horrors those three have in mind?

"We are going to get you ready for the dance!" Sybel said.

"You've got to be kidding me." I muttered under my breath. Matilda was sleeping in my arms. Lucky her. She doesn't have to get dressed up for a stupid dance. When we got to my quarters, I laid Matilda in her crib and took a shower like I was told to do. When I got out, they had moved my couch and chairs and put a table were the seats used to be. On the table was all sorts of beauty projects. Oh crud.

"Sit down." Minerva said. Oh no. I sat down and was instantly attacked by beauty products. Minerva painted my nails gold, while Poppy did my hair, and Sybel cooked diner.

"Where is all of your food go?" Sybel asked.

"I eat in the Great Hall." I said.

"Everyday?" Sybel asked, shocked. "Well I'll go grab some ingredients from my own quarters. Be right back." She ran out the door. Sybel had lost her big glasses and was wearing regular robes, which helped her appearance. I was shocked to find she was only 37, about my age.

The tortures went on, and soon I had on my slim blue dress and was heading to the Great Hall with my friends. I wanted to wear something else, because this dress shows off the scars on my neck, but the others said no. Why couldn't I have just worn my teacher robes? I like those robes. They're comfortable, but not dressy enough apparently.

"Wow." Tonks said when I walked in. "Sam, you look awesome!" everyone around us was also dressed up fancy, but I guess my "good looks" caught everyone's attention.

"Hi Tonks!" I said as we hugged. "How's Teddy? He's at my mum's house, right?"

"Yeah, my mum was too busy to watch him, and your mother loves kids and said she could watch him."

I talked to many people for a while, before someone came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Ivy! Richard!" I said as I hugged them. Some of the students seemed curious why Ivy, Richard, and I looked so much alike. They were staring at us with looks of intense curiosity.

"How's my favorite youngest kid?" Ivy asked.

"Well, Matilda's at mum's house, so I'm not sure." I said with sarcasm. She and Richard loved throwing it in my face that I was the youngest of the family. I don't really care that they rub it in my face, but it gets annoying after a while.

"You know she meant you." Richard said as he teasingly punched me in the arm. It kind of hurt. I talked and danced with my family and friends for about a two hours. It was around eight when the first slow song came on.

"He's going to ask you!" Poppy said.

"I don't think so, Poppy." I said. Severus was talking to Fillius and making no move to go ask me. In fact, it looked like they were arguing about something. Just then, Harry came up to me. He was wearing black dress robes that looked really nice on him.

"Sam, may I have this dance?" he asked as he offered his hand.

"Yes." I replied, taking his offered hand. Harry led me to the dance floor and we started dancing. He's a really good dancer. He led me gracefully to the tune of the music. It was nice. I did, however, see Severus glaring at us. Oh well. If he wanted to dance with me, then he should've asked me before Harry had. I could feel the eyes of the students watching me too. The song ended too soon for my liking. I was having fun dancing with "the Harry Potter".

"So, um." Harry managed to choke out when we were done dancing.

"Thanks for the dance." I said as I hugged him.

"Would you like to go out to dinner sometime?" Harry asked very quickly.

"Sure. When?"

"On the 26th maybe?" he seemed much calmer now that I said yes.

"That'd work. What time?"

"I'll meet you at the Hogwarts gates at six."

"Should I dress fancy?"

"No, your teaching robes would be fine." Harry said, smiling.

"See you then!" I said as I walked back to Poppy and Minerva. Sybel was dancing with Charlie Weasly.

"What did he ask you?" Poppy said. She sounded extremely mad that I danced with Harry instead of my true love.

"He asked me on a date." I said, smirking as the color drained out of her face. "And if you can't accept that Severus and I are not something, then keep it to yourself!"

"Bu-but" Poppy stuttered.

"No more of this conversation, okay? I don't really want to talk about whether or not Severus and I are meant to be!" I said firmly. I'm sick of her sticking her nose in my privet life! I get that she's my friend and all, but that's not much of an excuse to bug someone constantly about the same person!

"Fine." Poppy muttered. The party went on and Poppy didn't bring up Severus again. It was really nice, just dancing and partying with my friends and family. Richard and Ivy were teaching a group of students some defense spells.

"Whenever I try to teach them, they never listen. When you guys try, they hang on to every word." I said as I walked up. They instantly noticed the red scars on my neck. It's moments like these that make me wish I wore my teaching robes.

"It's because I'm extremely talented, handsome, amazing, awesome-" Richard said.

"Don't forget modest." I added.

"Don't push it, little sis." he said as he rubbed the top of my head.

"Sis?" some of the students exclaimed.

"Yep. Richard here is my oldest brother and Ivy is my oldest sister." I said.

"But you guys have different last names." a fifth year Slytherin asked. Ivy and Richard glanced at me.

"I changed mine. Didn't want to be associated with the Death Eaters." I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Should I tell them?" I asked Richard and Ivy.

"Why not." Ivy said, shrugging.

"Our dad and four siblings were Death Eaters. One of them tried to kill me yesterday." I said, much to their surprise. I guess they truly thought I was a former Death Eater.

"Wow." one of the girls said.

"Well, let's not end on that sad note! Let's keep this party moving!" Ivy shouted. The lessons continued and I helped out a bit. It was fun not having to teach strictly one thing at a time. At around nine thirty, my mum showed up with Matilda, so I decided to head to my quarters. There would be another party tomorrow anyway. On the way there, I was frozen in my tracks. Looking up, I saw the cursed enchanted mistletoe.

"Is there something wrong Sam?" Severus said in an icy drawl. I had never heard that much anger in his voice. Hopefully it wasn't meant to be directed at me.

"Look up." I said when he got closer.

"Well, um." Severus murmured as he looked up and a pale blush made its way onto his cheeks.

I put my hands around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. The kiss was very short and we quickly broke apart. The pale blush on his cheeks got darker.

"Merry Christmas, Severus." I said as I started walking away, still holding baby Matilda in my arms.

"Merry Christmas, Sam." He said, staring after my retreating figure. Instead of heading to my quarters, I made my way back to the Great Hall. The music had stopped and Richard was telling stories to everyone. Ivy and some of the teachers were trying to act the scene out.

"And my mother, carrying my baby cousin, Jasmine, ran into the room screaming, 'Who started the oven! It could've burned down the house! Do you guys know how hard I had to work to pay for this house and make sure your father never found us and harmed us?' and the crazy look in her eyes almost made us call someone for help."

I did what he said. I ran up to the middle of the Great Hall and said, "Who started the oven! It could've burned down the house! Do you guys know how hard I had to work to pay for this house and make sure your father never found us and harmed us?" the students were shocked, but then realized that I was also goofing off.

"Anyone else have a funny Christmas story?" Richard asked as he looked at us teachers.

"I do." I said. "And I know you guys will love it!" I pointed my wand at my throat and cast a simple spell that made my voice louder than everyone else's. "I was sixteen and home for the holidays. Four of my siblings, Vicky, Brian, David, and Hannah, decided it would be a good idea to trick me. They brought me to Godric's Hollow and said that we were going to church. Instead, they gave me to my father, a Death Eater. I had to duel him." I told them about the duel and how I lost to my father. "He forced me to tell them where Harry Potter was. I didn't know exactly where, but I knew it was in Godric's Hollow."

"Anyway, I told him where. He tried to escape to tell Voldemort, but I didn't let him." I described how the 2nd duel happened, using as many details as possible. I told them how some other members of the Order showed up, and how my dad died in the midst of it all.

"Wow!" said an excited 7th year. "That story was awesome!" people started applauding, which caused Richard to stare at me like a fish. It was hilarious.

"How did you do that?" he asked me.

"Through the power of magic and kittens." I replied sarcastically. "Let's sing some of the lovely Christmas Carols we know!"

We all sang carols. Matilda had fallen asleep, so I conjured up a crib for her and placed her in it. We made sure to sing quietly. Our huge group sang all the classics. Soon, however, I headed to my quarters with Matilda. I laid her down, singing her Jingle Bells in German. She quickly fell asleep. I headed to my room and made sure all the presents were ready for the house elves to take to the other rooms. I then laid on my bed and drifted off. I was thinking about Matilda, and her first Christmas tomorrow.

 **Author's Note: Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Please comment! :) Please!**


	8. Christmas Day

**Chapter Eight: Christmas Day**

I awoke to Matilda screaming in the other room. She loves to wake me up extra early on my days I off. I groggily got out of bed and opened the door between our rooms. The first thing I saw was a house elf holding Matilda and trying to get her quiet.

"Tina is very sorry Tina didn't get Matilda quiet before she woke you up, Master Lechen." the house elf said. She handed me Matilda before bowing down.

"It's perfectly fine, Tina. I needed to get up anyway." I said, smiling down at the small creature. She looked as if I had given her one million Galleons.

"Would you like anything that Tina could get for you, Master Lechen?" Tina asked.

"No, but thank you, Tina, for caring for Matilda. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too, Master Lechen." She said as she apparated away. I then heard a knock at my door. Who knocks at someone's door at seven a.m. on Christmas Day? Now that I think of it, it's probably Poppy telling me to go after Severus. I am not in love with Severus Snape! I even have a date for tomorrow with a different man for crying out loud!

"Merry Christmas, Sam!" the short witch said. How did I guess it?

"Merry Christmas, Poppy. Come in." I said as I opened the door to let her through. We sat on the couch as Matilda played with my shoelaces. I don't know why she likes them so much.

"Go grab your presents and bring them out here." Poppy said.

"Why?"

"So we an open them together."

"Shouldn't you be at the hospital wing in case anyone gets hurt?"

"No one will get hurt and we'll be quick." I did as I was told and grabbed my presents. I had a surprisingly big pile of stuff. When I set my presents on the living room floor, I noticed Poppy had moved Matilda's gifts in the small room too.

"Let's open up Matilda's presents first." I said as I sat down. She got a white dress with hearts on it from Minerva, a package of diapers from my mom, a necklace with her initial, M, on it from Poppy, a night light from Sybill, and a variety of other things from my siblings. We soon moved on to opening my presents.

"Open that one!" Poppy said, pointing at a small white box that looked like it had jewelry in it. I opened it to find a silver necklace with my initial, S, on it.

"Is it real silver?" I ask. If it is, I can't wear it around Remus.

"No. I know that you'll be talking to Remus now that the Death Eaters are back." Poppy said. She looked spooked when she said Death Eaters. I opened up the rest of my presents. I got a bracelet from Minerva, a book on dark creatures from Sybill, some new robes from my mom, and plenty of other stuff from my siblings.

"Wow that took a while." I said once we were done. It was about eight, so the three of us headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. After breakfast, activities started. There was snowman building and cookie making contests. There was a massive snowball fight that every student, teacher, and guest, besides my mom and Matilda, participated in. I hit as many people as I could before I was too covered in snow to see. The rest of the day was a super blur, and I soon found myself in the Great Hall for the feast.

"Professor Lechen?" asked fifth year Henry. The five tables had been replaced by one long table with chairs on both sides. Henry was sitting across from me.

"Yes Henry?"

"Did you drink out of your goblet?"

"Yes, why?" I asked. What are they talking about? They didn't put anything in it, did they? The kids started laughing.

"We put truth serum in it!" Ivy managed to squeeze out. Oh no. Oh no they didn't.

"Were you really part of the Order?" one of the laughing kids asked.

"Yes." I answered plainly. Those brats! Now they could get my deepest, darkest secrets out of me.

"Have you killed someone?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"My dad and Tintum Franklin. Now stop asking questions!"

"Your dad! Why?"

"He was going to tell Voldemort about where Harry was. I couldn't let that happen. Now stop asking me questions!" I growled. I'm disliking this conversation.

"Who's your favorite sibling?" Richard asked.

"It's a tie between Ivy and you."

"Who's your least favorite and why?" a student asked.

"Vicky because she's tried multiple times to kill me." I stood up, grabbed Matilda, and walked towards the door.

"Wait, Sam, are you in love with someone?" Poppy asked. I turned away to see her smirking.

"Yes Poppy, now get off my back!" I stalked out the door before she could ask who. It took me a moment to process my answer to Poppy's question. I then realized it; I'm in love. I'm in love with a man who still loves a dead woman. I could feel hot tears in my eyes. How could they do that? How? At least I realized I'm in love with the greasy potions master. I doubt he loves me, so I'll just have to move on. Find someone else. I quickly came to my room and laid Matilda down in her playpen. I had moved it into my small bedroom so I could watch her while I laid in my comfy bed.

"Sam, honey. Please come out." My mum said. Of course I forgot to shut the door to my quarters! How else could that woman get in?

"When you find the antidote, then I'll come out of my room. Until then, I'll stay in here." I said. I really didn't want to have to spill my secrets to everyone at Hogwarts.

"Severus said he would go grab the antidote. You'll need to be out here to get it." Of course she knows how to get me out of my room, she's my mum. I sighed before grabbing Matilda and stepping out of the room. My mum was the only one there.

"I'm sorry about mentioning dad." I said as I hugged her. The smaller woman had tears in her eyes. It makes me feel extra bed.

"Not your fault. You were forced to tell the truth." She said. My mum and I hugged for another few minutes until Severus came in. We broke away quickly and my mum dried her eyes.

"Here you go, Sam." Severus said, handing me a goblet. "Take three sips and that should be enough."

"I'll be going." My mum said as she walked out the door and into the hallway. She closed the door behind her. Something was off. I noticed it as soon as I took the last sip from the goblet. I couldn't tell what, but something was wrong. I heard a voice. It wasn't Severus's, and it didn't sound familiar. I couldn't tell what it was saying.

"Severus." I whispered. "What's wrong?" thinking was becoming harder and harder. I felt Matilda leave the safety of my arms. I was being led somewhere. I don't know where. Soon, everything became black.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I woke up in my bed, realizing right away something was off. After thinking for a few minutes, memories from last night came back to me. I remembered drinking out of a goblet Severus handed me, and then being escorted to my room. After that, it's all fuzzy. I tried to stand up, but immediately came crashing to the floor with a loud thud. Searing pain flooded from my legs. Looking at them, I saw that they had massive cuts in them. Blood was all over the room. What had happened here?

"Sam!" I heard a tortured scream from outside my bedroom door. I crawled to the door and opened it.

"Crucio!" a horrible voice said. Pain followed for what seemed like hours.

"Stop!" someone shrieked. I heard the door fly open. I was too weak to look up at who had entered the room. I laid there on the ground before the spells stopped and someone pulled me to my feet. I immediately fell back to the floor. My legs were just too weak to stand.

"Sam, are you hurt?" a woman with a kind voice asked. I couldn't seem to get my mouth to form out the words. It was just too much work. I felt myself being lifted onto a stretcher. I could see the faces of people now.

"Where's Matilda?" I whispered softly to Minerva, who was standing next to the floating stretcher.

"She was taken, Sam. I'm so sorry." She managed to choke out. Everything quickly became black once more.

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the shorter chapter. I know you all hate me for the mean cliff hanger, but I'll get the next chapter out soon. Please tell me if you spot any errors in my writing. Thank you to those of you who have commented or are following my story. Please comment! :)**


	9. Memories

_Author's Note: I'm sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes in this chapter. I do not have a beta, so the mistakes are my fault. Please comment my story. I'd love to hear your ideas for what should happen. Who knows, maybe your idea will be put into the story. If it is, I'll say in an author's note that you came up with the idea. Enjoy my story!_

 **Chapter 9: Memories**

I woke up in a white bed that was in a white room. The whiteness of it all made me realize I was in the hospital wing. I tried to sit up, but I immediately was pushed back down.

"You have to stay laying down, Sam. We don't want you to injure your leg again." Richard said. Some of the other people around me came into focus; there was my mum, Richard, Ivy, Sybill, Severus, Minerva, and Poppy. Poppy started forcing me to drink something out of a goblet. I tried to stop her from forcing me, but she won and I had to drink the disgusting liquid.

"It'll help with the pain." Poppy said softly. There was a sadness in her eyes I only remember seeing after Moody's death.

"What happened?" I asked as Poppy pulled the drink away. What in the world was going on? Why am I in the hospital wing?

"What do you remember happening last?" my mum asked quietly.

"I remember going to my room after you guys gave me a truth potion. You came in," I said, pointing at my mum, "and said that I needed to come out of my room. I came out and Severus came into the living room. Mum, you left, and Severus gave me a potion to drink. After that, nothing." They looked stunned.

"Sam, Severus was under the imperious curse. Some Death Eaters broke in and when he was getting the truth serum antidote, cursed him. He brought you a sleeping potion so that the Death Eaters could take Matilda away from you." Minerva said.

"Matilda's taken? Captured?" I whispered in a hoarse voice. I couldn't stop the tears that were flowing down my cheeks in rivers. Matilda couldn't be with her stupid father, she couldn't be! That couldn't happen. Hogwarts was supposed to be safe!

"I'm sorry, Sam." Ivy said. She leaned down and gave me an awkward hug. The room seemed to swirl. Matilda couldn't have been taken by her father.

"What happened after I fell asleep?" I managed to ask through my sobs.

"They took you to your bed and went to get Matilda. Severus, however, was able to regain control and tried to attack them. There were two Death Eaters. One of them took Matilda, while the other one tortured Severus until you got up. Then he tortured both of you until some of us came to your room." Minerva whispered. She had tears going down her face.

"How did you get out from under the imperious curse?" I asked Severus. I didn't dare look at him. I'm not sure what I would've done to him. I don't blame him for Matilda's capture, but it is partially his fault.

"I'm afraid I do not know the answer to that question. However, there may have been something in your room that lifted the curse." He said in his usual lazy drawl. I looked up at his face. His face showed no emotion. Did he care for me so little that he would show no emotion when I was this hurt? The worst part of it is I'm still in love with him.

"It is okay, Samanthera. It's okay, baby." My mum choked out. She came by my side and started stroking my black curls. I looked up into her face to see tears sliding down her cheeks. If Samuel got angry, my girl would be the first one to go and we all knew that.

Minutes turned into hours, hours into days, and I was still in the hospital wing. Okay, I was only in there for thirteen and a half hours, but it seemed like years. After everyone left, I stared into space and wished that my baby girl Matilda was by my side. That she wasn't with her father. Maybe if I sleep I'll forget about everything. Sighing, I stood up from my couch and went to my room. I laid on my bed and cried until I had no tears left.

"Sam?" Ginny asked from the doorway to my room. Did I fall asleep? Looking at the clock, which said nine a.m., I realized I did. Sighing I stood up.

"When did you get here, Ginny?" I asked quietly. I couldn't seem to get my voice to be louder than a whisper.

"Last night. I wanted to get some work done. Professor McGonagall wants to see you in her office at ten. Is there anything I can do for you?" her eyes were filled with sadness and pain when I looked at her.

"What day is it?" I asked, surprising her.

"It's the 27th." She answered before closing the door. I headed to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I had large bags under my red eyes. My hair looked like a small tornado went through it. My skin had an unhealthy paleness to it and my usually smiling face had no emotion in it. I brushed my hair and changed my clothes before heading to breakfast. I could tell a lot of the students were surprised to see me. The other teachers, however, knew I wouldn't stay in that horrid hospital wing longer than I had to.

"Good morning Professor Lechen." Sybill said when I sat down next to her.

"Morning Sybill." I muttered. I ate slowly before heading towards Minerva's office. I got there with fifteen minutes to spare.

"Good thing I told Severus to come early." Minerva said as I walked in. She was sitting in her chair by her desk. "You and your family were always early." She was smiling as I walked into her office. Her smile wavered a bit when she looked up and say my face. It's probably just my beautiful red, baggy eyes and my unhealthy looking skin that she was looking at. My guess is the unhealthy skin is a side effect of a potion Poppy gave me. Otherwise, who knows how I got it.

"We are going to be looking through some of your memories from the year I was headmaster." Severus said as he stood up from the chair he was sitting in on the other side of Minerva's desk.

"Why?" I asked, still not showing any emotion.

"We need to see them so that we can see what exactly was happening in Amycus Carrow's classes so he can be charged the right way. He was captured yesterday." Minerva said. Her smile was completely gone. I guessed she realized I wasn't in the mood for smiles.

"Okay. Where's the pensive?" I said. Minerva showed it to me and I put my wand up to my head. A long, silver string that was like air and water combined came out and I laid it in the pensive. "I may have put a few extra in there by accident." I said.

"That's fine. I'll be the one observing your memories." Severus said as he came to my side by the pensive. Nodding to each other, we jumped into the midst of my memories. We were in Minerva's office two and a half years ago. It was exactly how I remembered it. Right after Dumbledore's death.

"Voldemort is going to appoint me headmaster." Severus said. He was staring out the window. "The Carrows are going to be teaching next year. I would like you to be Amycus' apprentice so he doesn't hurt the children."

"If you're not trying to kill me, and it's actually for the children, than sure." I responded, smiling. He turned around and smirked at me.

"Very well. I will tell Amycus of her new apprentice." The scene changed. I was in the defense against the dark arts classroom with Amycus before the year started.

"Okay, brat. If you're going to be my apprentice, than you'll have to know how to defend yourself. Crucio!" Amycus yelled. I blocked it easily. Soon, we were dueling. I was hit with a spell that knocked me to the floor and caused me to scream. Pain filled my body. I could feel the scene change, but I was still on the floor of the classroom in pain.

"Now you try, Malfoy." an evil voice said. The pain stopped for a few moments before starting again. The scene changed again. I was at Hogsmeade with both Carrows. We were walking into Hogs Head.

"Why are you taking me here?" I asked quietly.

"Because we're the boss of you and we want you to meet our friend." Amycus said. He smiled evilly at his sister. "Hello, Samuel." The three of us sat down in a both where a young man was sitting.

"Hello, Carrows. Is this the person you wanted me to meet?" Samuel said. He had a beautiful smile and really good looks. As I talked to him, I realized he could be caring. Now a days, I know different. The scene changed for another time. I was in Severus' office.

"I'm sorry for the injuries that the Carrows gave you." Severus said. He was staring out the window again. It seemed to be something he liked to do.

"If I didn't want to get hurt, than I wouldn't have said yes to the job when you asked me." I replied.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Severus asked. He looked at me with caring eyes.

"Of course I am." I said, getting closer to him. I was smiling, even though what we were talking about was very serious.

"Good. I was worried that my student protector wasn't tough enough." He said as he pulled me into a hug. It was wonderful. The scene changed too soon. I found myself dueling Amycus during one of her classes. She hit me with a spell that caused cuts to form all over my body. The scene changed.

"I deserve this much!" Samuel yelled. We were in my old bedroom at Hogwarts. He had pinned me to my bed and had started to take off my clothes.

"Stop!" I screamed. The scene changed. I was in the hospital wing, laying on one of the white beds with another injury.

"Sam, did you know that you're pregnant?" Poppy asked with a concerned look in her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. The scene changed. It was a few minutes before Severus ran off and started the Battle of Hogwarts. We were in the defense against the dark arts classroom.

"Thank you for telling me the news. When the school year's over, I'm firing you so that they won't hurt you or your baby." Severus said. "Who's the father anyway?"

"Samuel." I muttered. "Please stay safe. I know that Harry will be here soon and Voldemort will attack. Just stay safe."

"I will." He said as he brought me in for a hug. The scene changed again. It was during the Battle of Hogwarts.

"Where is Severus?" I asked a rather confused Hermione. She quickly opened the Marauder's map and looked for him.

"His going into the shrieking shack. Why do you want to know?" she said. I started running to the wimping willow. It was busy attacking some Death Eaters, so I slipped right in. I got to the room where Severus and Voldemort were talking and sat outside it. Ron, Harry, and Hermione soon joined me. I could tell Nagini was about to attack. I jumped between Nagini and Severus. There was a sudden pain in my neck. Severus was laying by my side. Hermione came by me. I motioned to my bag and she grabbed the antidote. Everything went black as I heard screams.

"Did you find anything?" Minerva asked. We were out of the pensive and back in her present day office.

"Yes, Amycus used the torture curse against Sam many times. He will be sent to Azkaban with his sister." Severus said. He looked my way. I could feel a few tears on my cheeks. Oh my Matilda! Where are you?

"Sam, are you all right?" Minerva asked. She came up to my side and put a hand around my shoulders. "What's wrong?" she led me to a chair and sat me down.

"Sam, you have to stop acting like this! Matilda may be with her father, but you need to keep going. Stop acting like a child by crying constantly. You spent most of breakfast staring at your food instead of eating it. Now clean yourself up and start helping the Order track her down. You're no use to anyone like this!" Severus said. He seemed to realize the harshness of his words right after he said them. The freaking nerve of some people! He has to be kidding me! I was all of a sudden standing up and pointing my wand at his heart.

"Don't you ever again talk to me like that Severus Snape! Leave me alone, or you'll pay the price!" I growled. Both Minerva and he looked shocked. I ran out of Minerva's office and to my quarters as fast as possible. I ran into my bedroom and laid on my bed, crying. I cried for Matilda and the others I loved. I cried for my father and Death Eater siblings. I cried for my friends' husbands' deaths. And lastly, I cried for the man I loved and hated; Severus Snape.


	10. Fairy Tales

Author's Note: I'll be updating more often in the next few weeks, but please be patient with me. I've been getting writer's block whenever I sit down to type. Please comment, favorite, like, and most of all, enjoy!

 **Chapter Ten: Fairy Tales**

 _Dear Sam,_

 _I got the news about Matilda. I'm so sorry. I wish I could be by your side during this rough time. The Order is doing everything in its power to get Matilda back. We have narrowed down places where Matilda could be to five. On a much lighter note, I was hoping you would like to go out to dinner. I could pick you up from the Hogwarts gate and take you out New Year's Eve. Dress fancy._

 _Harry_

I quickly grabbed a quill and parchment and wrote my response.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I'd love to go out to dinner on New Year's Eve. I do want to remind you that we're at war with people we don't know we're fighting. Please choose a place that's safe for you. Many wizards and witches want to kill you. Thank you for trying to rescue Matilda. Take care!_

 _Sam_

I gave the letter to my barn owl. Margaret flew out the open window of my bedroom. It would be nice to get out. Just forget about the worsening war. The Weaslys were attacked yesterday at their home. The only injury was Molly cutting her arm, and that healed quickly. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of firewhisky and a glass. I poured myself a glass and drank it all right away. Immediately I felt a little better as the alcohol blurred my thoughts of war. Sighing, I went to table with my glass and started grading papers.

"I never thought of you as much of a drinker, Sam." Ginny said. She was at the opposite side of the table as I was. I just starred at her darkly.

"You'll be surprised to find that you don't know me." I said. I finished my glass and went to get another one.

"What do I not know about you? I've been living with you for four months and only ever saw you drink at the Halloween party. What's changed?" Ginny asked. I didn't answer until I got back to the table. I sat down my glass and went by Ginny's side. I pulled up my left sleeve and she gasped.

"Thought you should know." I said. I pulled my sleeve back over the small Dark Mark Samuel had given me. He did it the same night he raped me.

"You're a Death Eater?" Ginny exclaimed. She stood up, grabbed her wand, and put it to my neck faster than you could say Death Eater.

"Of course not. The Carrows taught me how to be like them, I never really wanted to become one. But I had very little hope that year. I was as close to death as you could get. I needed a way to defend myself from Amycus." I said calmly. Nobody ever saw my dark mark. I always covered it up. It also helps that sense Samuel did it and not Voldemort, it was very small.

"They must have taught you more than dueling!" Ginny yelled. Her wand dug deeper into my neck. It was getting hard to breath.

"You think I let him do this? You think I wanted this? Look at it! It's smaller than most. Do you really think I would let Voldemort do this to me? No! Samuel forced it onto me!" I growled. Ginny stepped back in shock. I grabbed her wand and hugged her. She hugged me back. When I knew she was calm enough and wouldn't attack me, I gave her back her wand. She went to her room.

"I hope she understands." I muttered. Grabbing the bottle of firewhisky, I refilled my glass and tried to grade papers. I couldn't think straight, though. My guess is I had too much alcohol, so I went to bed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When I woke up, I felt awful. It wasn't from drinking, it was from Ginny. I don't know what got into me last night. I can't believe I scared her like that. She wasn't even in her room when I checked. I got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall, relieved to see Ginny there. I sat down in a chair as far away from everyone as I could get.

"Sam. It is not my fault those things happened to you. You shouldn't be taking your anger out at me. And next time, don't scare your apprentice half to death. She's too scared to even tell us what's wrong." Came a lazy, drawl from behind me. I was on my feet before I knew it. My wand was pointing directly at his heart.

"How about you care for your friends when they are upset after seeing bad memories instead of screaming at them to get a grip." The shocked look on his face only motivated me. "Stay the hell away from me, Snape, or you'll regret it!"

"What is it that scare Ginny?" he asked quietly as he grabbed me wrist when I tried to walk away.

"She didn't even trust me. Just like I don't trust you." I said. I slapped him in the face as hard as I could and walked away, leaving him to stare daggers at my retreating form. I had made a fool out of him in front of some of his students, who happened to be filming our little chat. Wonder what the kids will think of me now.

The rest of the day went by really fast. Ginny wouldn't even speak to me. I miss her all ready. I heard someone knock on the door, so I went to see who it was.

"I can't believe you, Sam! You ruined your chance with Severus!" said the annoying Poppy.

"Did I forget to tell you I have a date tomorrow?" I asked. I blocked the door so Poppy couldn't slip past me.

"What?" she screeched. "A new year's eve date? It's with Harry, isn't it?" when she asked the last question, her eyes turned icy.

"Who else loves me, Poppy? If Severus loved me he wouldn't have said those things." I said. I slammed the door closed before she could say anything else. I quickly locked the door and put a few enchantments on it. I don't want anyone breaking in. I went back to reading my book on my couch. Ginny was sitting there waiting for me.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" she asked. We both knew she was talking about my dark mark.

"Truthfully, I forgot about it. It's not a normal dark mark, so I don't feel any pain from it. It's almost like a muggle tattoo. Plus, I didn't feel it mattered much."

"Does Professor McGonagall know?"

"Yes. She is about as snoopy as Poppy."

"Nobody is that bad. People can't sink to that level."

"You just said people can't sink to Poppy's level, so does that mean Poppy's not a person?"

"You know what I meant!"

"You're forgetting how stupid I am!" I said as I threw a pillow at her. She threw it back at my face and we started a pillow war. I called a truce when she took the pillow I was using and started whacking me with the pillow she had and the pillow she took from me.

"Are you doing anything for New Year's Eve?" Ginny asked. We were sitting on the floor, exhausted from our pillow war.

"Yeah, Harry invited-" I didn't get to finish. Ginny's face had gone white before turning red.

"Harry invited you out?" she asked, shocked.

"Wait a second. Do you like Harry?" I asked. I never paid any attention to who people liked during the second war. Didn't really think it mattered at the moment.

"Yes!" she screamed. Her voice then got very quiet. "Wait, you didn't know?"

"Well, I could sort of tell, but I didn't know for sure. I thought it was just because he's Ron's best friend and that's why act strange around him. Plus, I was, in fact, trying to stop the Dark Lord."

"How'd you do that from Hogwarts?"

"By keeping all of the kids safe. If I hadn't been there to torture, who do you think Amycus would have tortured?" I asked. I stood up and pulled Ginny to her feet. Her red face had become its normal color once again.

"Thanks, Sam, for keeping the children safe." Ginny said. "Now that you know who I like, will you tell me who you like?"

"Sure, why not. But if you ask him out on a date, I'll kill you."

"Don't worry, I'm not that mean."

"Good. I like Severus." I said. The shocked look on her face was priceless. Who knew someone could look that much like a fish? I guess you learn something new every day.

"What. You like Snape? Why do you act as if you hate him? Is this why Poppy keeps annoying you? Sense when have you liked him? Do you know if he likes you? How could you like a bat?" she asked. I had no idea someone could ask questions so quickly. Better answer all of them. I guess sometimes you learn two new things every day.

"Yes I like Severus. He's a complete jerk. No, it's not why Poppy's annoying me about him; she doesn't even know I like him. I realized I like him Christmas Day. I do not know if he likes me, and I don't know how I could like a bat, but I do." I said. I made sure to answer all of the questions in order, otherwise, I could have confused Ginny.

"You have to be kidding me!" Ginny exclaimed. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone as long as you don't tell anyone about Harry."

"I think everyone can tell you like Harry, except for Harry."

"Yeah, because he is too busy looking at a certain professor."

"I do have incredible beauty." I said, striking a pose that made us fall over in laughter. It was almost like Matilda was just asleep in the other room and hadn't been taken by the Death Eaters. Stupid war.

"Well, we have to go teach Hagrid. He's greatly improving. Is it his seventh lesson?" Ginny said as she walked towards the door.

"Yes, it is. Now come on, we don't want to be late." I said, following her to the door. We walked around a hallway before coming to the door of the classroom we were using for Hagrid's lessons. Ginny's right though; he is improving a lot. By the second lesson, we had covered all of the transfiguration units he missed. In the next three, we did potions. He struggled with chopping the ingredients. His huge hand couldn't hold the knife at a good angle for chopping. In the next one, we did herbology. He seemed to know a lot about herbology, so Ginny and I decided to do only one class on it. Today, we're starting defense against the dark arts.

"Ello Sam and Ginny. What are we doing today?" Hagrid asked. His beetle-black eyes glittered with friendliness under his mane of hair.

"We're going to be starting the defense against the dark arts units. You probably know most of this stuff through experience, so Ginny and I are not sure if we'll take one or two days on it." I said. The desks in the classroom had been cleared to make room for Ginny and me to teach. It was much cluttered besides the open area.

"Do you know what a Bogart is, Hagrid?" Ginny asked. The rest of the lesson went on smoothly. We went through Bogarts, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, hags, ghosts, gargoyles, imps, pixies, gindylows, blast-ended skrewt, inferi, dementors, and a variety of other creatures. Sense Hagrid knew about most of them, we went through them all very quickly. Soon, the three hours of the lesson had gone by and I was back in my quarters. I pulled out a book called _How to Create Homemade Spells_ and sat down on the couch and read through it. I've been trying to make my own spells, but none of them seem to work.

"Fasicadil." I said. This was the only spell that even got close to working. It was a spell that would see if someone's lying. It produced a light blue light that only the person who said the spell could see. If it turned brown, than the person was lying. If it turned purple, than they were telling the truth. I'm going to use it on Harry tomorrow to see if he likes Ginny or not. Maybe I'll even use it on Severus to see if he likes me. But then I'd have to ask him, and that would be weird.

"How's the spell going?" Ginny asked as she walked in the room. Looking at the clock, I saw it was almost nine. She had been tutoring students in the classroom for the past two hours.

"Good. It's a truth spell. Can I test it out on you?" I asked.

"Sure, as long as it's not dangerous and you don't tell anyone else my deep, dark secrets. How does it work?"

"I'll say the spell while you're talking. You won't be able to see the light that is produced. The light will start out light blue. If it turns brown, that means you're lying. If it turns purple, you're telling the truth. Now say something!"

"I think hot chocolate is okay, but I'd rather have a hot cup of tea." As Ginny said this, I whispered Fasicadil. It turned brown.

"Liar!" I said triumphantly. I know it worked because Ginny loves hot chocolate more than anything else.

"Correct. Can you teach me that spell?" Ginny asked. She looked wondered by the thought of using it. "You'll teach the rest of the Order, right?"

"I'll teach some of them it eventually. But yes, I'll teach you." I said. After she had mastered Fasicadil, I headed to bed. Tomorrow was New Year's Eve and my date with Harry.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This is a nice restaurant." I said. Harry and I were sitting at a table for two at a small, fancy restaurant called _Le restaurant de Londres._ It was very beautiful. I noticed Harry staring at me.

"Oh, um sorry." He said when he noticed me watching him.

"You haven't had much experience with women, have you?" I asked, smirking. His blush was hilarious.

"I've only dated once before, and that was with Ginny. She's awesome…" he started going on about Ginny and I quickly realized that he liked her. I didn't even have to use Fasicadil. When we finished eating and were standing outside, I decided to tell him what's best.

"Listen, Harry, you are a wonderful guy and any girl would be lucky to have you, but you're in love with someone else." I told him, grabbing his hands in mine.

"Who?" he asked, confused.

"Ginny, of course. You haven't stopped talking about her sense we sat down. But thank you for dinner." I said. I kissed him on his right cheek before apparating back to Hogwarts gate. It was eleven fifty. I headed to the great hall, where everyone was, waiting for the clock to strike midnight while listening to music. Severus quickly came up to me.

"Sam, I apologize for the mean things I said. I tried to tell you before, but you wouldn't listen. When you looked at me with that anger in your eyes when you threatened to attack me, it reminded me how I lost Lily, one of my only friends. I never apologized to her, and that's what ruined our friendship. I don't want that to happen to us. Do you forgive me?" he asked rather quickly.

"Who are you and what have you done with Severus?" I asked, smirking.

"Is that a yes I hear?" he asked, returning the smirk.

"Of course. You know I can't keep a grudge. It's just too hard." I said. I pulled him into a hug and he hugged me back after a moment. Wow this is nice. A slow song came on as we pulled away from each other.

"May I have this dance?" he asked in his lazy drawl. He offered me his hand

"Of course!" I said. I grabbed his hand and he led me to the dance floor. We made excellent dance partners for each other. Believe it or not, but Severus is a very good dancer. We flew in the small space we took up in the back of the room. The song suddenly stopped and people started counting down.

"Ten…Nine…Eight…Seven…" Everyone yelled. "Six…Five…Four…Three…Two…One… Happy New Year!" Balloons fell from the sky and people started kissing. I turned to Severus and kissed him on the lips. He kissed me back. When I pulled away, there was a slight blush in his cheeks.

"Happy New Year, Severus." I said as I turned away from him.

"Happy New Year, Sam." He said back. Before I could walk away, however, he asked, "Did you enjoy your date?" I turned back to him.

"Truthfully, no. We're both in love with someone else." I said. He raised an eyebrow as I said this.

"I know Harry's in love with Ginny, but who is it that you're in love with?"

"I'm looking at him." I said. Where did this courage come from? He looked shocked for a second, but then smiled. He has such a nice smile. He quickly pulled me in close and kissed me on the lips.

"I feel the same way." Severus said as he broke away from me. "Goodnight, Sam."

"Goodnight, Severus." I said. It was my turn to stand there like an idiot, staring at him as he walked away. Sometimes fairytales do come true. However, I know things are going to get tough as we head deeper into the war. Suddenly, a spell hit me in the heart and everything turned black.

 **Author's Note: Don't worry, Sam's not dead! I'd be mad at myself if I killed her off this soon. There will be many more chapters to this story, so stay tuned!**


	11. The Universe Hates Severus Snape

**Author's Note: This chapter is going to be a little different. We're going to be seeing events through Snape's eyes just for this chapter. Please enjoy! :)**

 **Chapter Eleven: The Universe Hates Severus Snape**

What had gotten in to me? Why had I said those things? That ice cold look in her blue green eyes reminded me of both Lily and Albus when they got angry with me. I reached the dungeons as fast as possible. I turned around two corners and reached my quarters. The first thing I did inside the rooms was grab a bottle of firewhisky. I sat down at the small table I had and started going through the many papers that were cluttered all over the table. While doing so, I chugged down most of the bottle of firewhisky. After I had gone through most of the papers, I went to my classroom and started brewing potions. Brewing is the one thing that helps me to forget about life.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Why do I feel so guilty? I yell at students every day to get a grip and barely give a care when they cry. I was sitting in my chair at the teacher's table in the Great Hall, taking a glance at Sam every now and then. She looked broken. Almost as if a dementor had given her a kiss. Her beautiful black curls looked like she had just gotten out of bed. Her blue green eyes showed no emotion as they stared at the plate of food she had. Her usual smile had been replaced with a face showing no emotion. I miss her beautiful smile. Wait, beautiful?

"Severus!" came an icy voice from behind me. Sighing, I turned around. Why was Poppy trying to set me up with Sam anyway? She definitely does not have feelings for me, and I definitely have none towards her. Why do I feel so guilty then?

"What do you want, Poppy?" I growled. I never knew someone could be this annoying.

"I can't believe you ruined your chance with Sam like that! Why would you do something like that! The poor girl found out her daughter's been taken by her crazy father and you yell at her?" she whisper yelled. I'm grateful that I happened to be at the end of the table that no one was sitting at.

"Poppy, I have told you before; Sam and I are merely friends, nothing more."

"Are? When I talked to her she said she had no relation with you at all." Poppy said with an evil grin. I could feel my face sink, but immediately showed no expression again. Sadly, Poppy noticed my reaction. "You love her, Severus. I can tell. I saw how you acted with Lily, even when you lost her. Sam loves you, too. She doesn't want to admit it either, but it's true." She walked away when she was done speaking.

Maybe what she said is true. Maybe that's why I feel so guilty for hurting her. Seeing her so sad, it just made me feel like hurting Samuel until he could no longer hurt my Sam. My? Sam is not mine, just like how Lily was never mine. I wish she had been mine. Maybe that's why I'm in love with Sam. Perhaps the universe is giving me another chance.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I woke up in my bed from another nightmare. I had broken out in a cold sweat. Why had Lily been replaced with Sam? Why was it Sam who stopped Potter from keeping me hung upside down by my ankles for the rest of my life instead of Lily? Shaking my head, I got out of bed, took a shower, and changed. I still couldn't shake off that dream. I headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast, only to find Ginny shaking at the table with Poppy, Minerva, Fillius, and Sybel by her side.

"Severus, can you try to find out why Ginny's upset? She won't tell any of us." Minerva said. I walked up to her and kneeled so we were at eye level.

"Ginny, what's wrong? Did Sam do something to you?" I asked in a quiet voice. She looked up at me and nodded.

"Her arm…" Ginny said.

"What about her arm?" I asked. She shook her head. I wasn't going to get any more information out of her. "Why don't you try eating something?" Ginny started grabbing food off of the golden plates and putting them on her own plate. She seemed a bit better after eating a few bites. I heard the door open and saw Sam come in. Her blue green eyes starred at the ground in front of her. I couldn't help but notice a few new scratches on her face. She looked like a zombie. She sat down as far away from us as possible. I stood up and walked over to her.

"Sam. It is not my fault those things happened to you. You shouldn't be taking your anger out on me. And next time, don't scare apprentice half to death. She's too scared to even tell us what's wrong." I said. She stood up and had her wand pointing at my heart before I even finished.

"How about you care for your friends when they are upset after seeing bad memories instead of screaming at them to get a grip." The anger burned in her eyes. Almost like Lily's when I had called her a mudblood. "Stay the hell away from me, Snape, or you'll regret it!"

"What is it that scare Ginny?" I asked quietly as I grabbed her wrist before she could try to walk away. Her left arm flinched. I have a bad feeling.

"She didn't even trust me. Just like I don't trust you." She said. Sam slapped me before stalking off. I could've sworn she had tears in her eyes. I starred after her for a moment before sitting back down. Maybe the universe was just trying to torture me again.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _Knock. Knock._ I walked to the door to the hallway and opened it. Poppy barged in passed me.

"I have bad news, Severus." she said as she sat down on my black couch. I closed the door and sat down next to her.

"Really? And what is that?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Harry invited Sam out to dinner tomorrow night, and she said yes!" Poppy exclaimed.

"Potter?" I said. How could Sam go out with Potter? Sure, I've realized he isn't as bad as his father, but everyone knows that he loves Ginny. Well, except for him and Sam apparently.

"Yep. A New Year's Eve date. Extra special because it's on a holiday."

"Poppy, do you know what Sam did to Ginny?"

"No, I don't, but if I find out, I'll tell you." She said. Poppy stood up and left. How could someone as beautiful and talented as Sam go out with _Potter?_ How could Sam go out with me? I'm not much in the looks department and I'm still mean to the rotten students. Why would someone like that even be friends with me? Sure her independence and her stubbornness can be annoying, but besides that she's practically perfect. What am I going to do?

 _New Year's Eve_

Watching the clock slowly tick down just makes me wonder where Sam is. I haven't been able to stop thinking about her. It was almost ten to midnight when I saw her. I walked up to her before she could start talking to anyone else.

"Sam, I apologize for the mean things I said. I tried to tell you before, but you wouldn't listen. When you looked at me with that anger in your eyes when you threatened to attack me, it reminded me how I lost Lily, one of my only friends. I never apologized to her, and that's what ruined our friendship. I don't want that to happen to us. Do you forgive me?" I asked rather quickly.

"Who are you and what have you done with Severus?" Sam asked, smirking.

"Is that a yes I hear?" I asked, returning the smirk.

"Of course. You know I can't keep a grudge. It's just too hard." She said. She pulled me into a hug. She forgave me! I had scenes of how she was going to yell at me going through my head. I hugged her back. A slow song came on and I acted on the spot.

"May I have this dance?" I asked, offering Sam my hand.

"Of course!" she said as she took my hand. I led her to the dance floor and we started dancing. Sam is a very good dancer. She smiled and looked happy for the first time in a couple days. The song suddenly stopped and everyone started counting down.

"Ten…Nine…Eight…Seven…" Everyone yelled. "Six…Five…Four…Three…Two…One… Happy New Year!" Balloons fell from the sky and people started kissing. Sam turned to me and kissed me on the lips. I kissed her back. When she pulled away, I could feel the blush in my cheeks.

"Happy New Year Severus." She said.

"Happy New Year, Sam." I said. Before she could walk away I asked, "Did you enjoy your date?"

"Truthfully, no. We're both in love with someone else." Sam said. I raised an eyebrow as she said this.

"I know Harry's in love with Ginny, but who is it that you're in love with?"

"I'm looking at him." she said. Yes! I could feel the huge smile on my lips as I pulled her in for another kiss.

"I feel the same way." I said as I broke away from her. "Goodnight, Sam."

"Goodnight, Severus." She said as I turned away. Before I could take two steps, I heard a scream behind me. I turned around to see Sam lying on the floor. Her eyes were wide with panic. I knelt down by her side and called for Poppy. Poppy couldn't tell what was wrong with her. Suddenly, her eyes closed and she stood up. She opened her eyes and she started walking to a wall. Sam opened up a door that led to a broom closet and shot a spell in there. A man holding a baby came out. I rushed towards her side, but the man had put up a shield around them, blocking anyone from getting close to them.

"Do you remember me, Samanthera? I'm your old buddy Samuel." The man said.

"Hello, Samuel, nice to meet you. I have a feeling that you shouldn't have that child." Sam said. I took a closer look at the young baby. The baby had black curls and pale skin. It was Matilda.

"Oh, you mean Matilda? I don't suppose you remember her? Do you even remember your name or where you are? I know you've lied to everyone else about who you really are. Why don't you use your father's last name? Are you to embarrass to? Have they even seen your left arm completely uncovered?" the vile human being asked.

"My name is Samanthera Grace Lechen Riddle. This place makes me feel safe, like a muggle school house. Muggles never harm schools. My father was a good for nothing piece of scum from what I can remember. " Sam said. She must have lost most of her memory. She remembered a bit of Hogwarts, though. But why did she say her last name was Riddle? She couldn't be related to him. No, someone as wonderful as Sam couldn't be related to him.

Samuel shot a spell at Sam. Sam shot one back. It went like that for a few minutes before Sam hit Samuel with a boil spell. Red, hot boils popped up all over his skin. He moaned as he fell over in pain. The barrier was broken and Minerva rushed in, grabbed Matilda and a confused Sam, and rushed them out of there. I followed close behind. We reached the hospital wing and Minerva had Sam sit down on a bed and handed her Matilda.

"What do you remember, Sam?" Minerva asked.

"Not much. Did I get hit with a mind erasing spell? If I did, it wasn't a very good one." she asked. She was smiling as she played with Matilda. "This is my daughter, right?"

"Yes to both questions." I answered. Sam's eyes went from Minerva to me.

"Who are you two?" she asked.

"I'm Minerva McGonagall, the headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where you are the defense against the dark arts teacher." Minerva said.

"I am Severus Snape, the potions master here." I said.

"I sort of remember your faces, but not much else about you guys." Sam said. Her eyes seemed to light up a little when she said she remembered us. Suddenly, Poppy, Fillius, Sybil, and some of Sam's family came in. I stepped away from the bed that Sam was laying on as they quickly crowded the small area. After a few moments, however, Sam blacked out and Poppy told all of us to leave. I went back to my quarters, wondering if she's actually related to the Dark Lord and about her left arm.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Severus." Poppy said, waking me up. I had fallen asleep in the chair by Sam's bed. When I had woken up in my bed a few hours ago, I changed and headed down here. Sam still hadn't woken up. I must have fallen asleep waiting for her to wake up.

"Yes, Poppy?" I asked, whipping the sleep from my eyes.

"Sam won't be awake for a couple more hours. I suggest heading back to bed and getting more sleep." Poppy said calmly. I listened to her and tried to get more sleep. I couldn't help thinking about Sam and me. Maybe the universe is giving me a second chance.

Days went by and Sam wasn't getting much better. The few minutes a day she was awake, she could barely remember her name. Classes had started again, and Ginny was teaching Defense against the Dark Arts. Poppy was becoming worried. I couldn't seem to get a wink of sleep. I spent most of my time sitting by Sam's hospital bed while students whisper behind me.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _Two Weeks Later_

"Hi Severus!" Sam said as I walked into the hospital wing. She was on the ground trying to teach Matilda to walk. Her memory had gotten a little better, but not much. Remus Lupin was teaching Defense against the Dark Arts with Ginny as his assistance.

"Hello Sam. How are you and Matilda doing today?" I asked.

"Good, yourself?"

"Good. Is Matilda used to the change of rooms?"

"She doesn't like being in her instead of our quarters, but she's getting used to it." Sam said. I knelt down on the floor and Matilda started walking towards me. She fell half way there, so I went up to her and scooped her up.

"She's getting heavy." I said as I tickled her, causing her to laugh.

"She thinks of you as a father." Sam said as I handed her Matilda.

"Really?" I said, shocked.

"Yeah, you spend a lot of time down here trying to help the both of us." Her smiling face quickly turned sad. "I'm sorry to say, but Poppy said my memories aren't going to come back." I stayed another hour with them before going to my quarters. I cursed fate. They tried to trick me into believing I had a second chance. I soon fell asleep.

"Severus." Said a sweet voice from behind me. I knew that voice.

"Lily, where am I?" I asked as I turned around. I was in a white area. There were no walls, just whiteness. The only color was from the people walking towards me.

"You're in what we call a void. You see people that are dead in your sleep, but you are not dead." Albus said. His right hand was no longer black and dead, and his blue eyes twinkled merrily from behind his half-moon spectacles. James, Lily, Sirius Dumbledore, and my mother were all there.

"Severus." My mother said as she hugged me. I hugged her back. I was surprised to find that Sirius and James didn't poke fun at me hugging her.

"Look, Severus, I didn't mean to hurt you and neither did Sirius. I'm sorry we did those terrible things to you. After seeing you treat Harry with mixed emotions, I realized what I had done. Please forgive me." Jams said. His eyes were pleading. I nodded.

"What is done is done and cannot be changed." I said.

"Can I have a word alone with Severus?" Lily asked the others. They all left and it was just me and her. Why wasn't I happy to see her? "Severus, I'm sorry I left you with the Death Eaters. I didn't mean to hurt you when I left. It really hurt when you called me that word. When I saw you with Sam, I felt so happy for you. When you accidently were mean to her, you felt very guilty. And now she can barely remember her own name! But I promise you, Severus, that I will make sure she gets her memories back!" Lilly exclaimed. She hugged me and I hugged her back.

"I shouldn't have called you that word. I've missed having my friend by my side." I said, smiling. She forgave me, so why wasn't I pleased?

"I've missed you too. Oh, can you tell Harry to just ask Ginny on a date, for me? And you should ask Sam on a date yourself. I don't want your feelings towards me to get in the way of you two." Lilly said with a smile.

"I'll tell Harry, ask Sam out, and not let any of my feelings towards you get in the way." I said as I held up my right hand, causing Lily to laugh.

"Can we come back?" Sirius asked as he walked up to us. "By the way, Severus, Sam's a cutie."

"Are you trying to steal my girl?" I asked, giving him a smirk.

"Maybe." He said with a mischievous grin.

"It's time for you to go back, Sev." My mother said. "I love you." I hugged her and said bye to everyone else. Suddenly, I was back in my room and no time had gone by.


	12. Returning

**Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. I got a little stuck on how to phrase my thoughts in this chapter. I did notice that the views in chapters nine and ten were lower than chapter eleven. That means people are skipping chapters. Please don't skip chapters because you'll be confused in later chapters. Enjoy my story!**

 **Chapter Twelve: Returning**

Where was I? I opened my eyes and saw a group of people gathered around me. Looking around, I saw that I was in a huge room. There was a door. Something bad was there. I grabbed my wand and stood up before blasting the door.

Xxxxxxxxx

"Where am I?" I asked. I was in a white room. It didn't even look like a room. There were no walls or ceiling. Just whiteness.

"You're in the void. It's where you can talk to the dead without actually being dead." Came a kind voice from behind me. I turned around to find Albus Dumbledore, Lily Potter, and Beelzebub Riddle, my father.

"Thank you, Professor, for confusing me even more." I said with a smirk.

"I see Samuel's spell didn't mess with your personality." Dumbledore said with a smile, his blue eyes twinkling behind his spectacles.

"Her attitude's probably the same too!" my father spat. He had jet black hair, dark green eyes, and a tall figure. His eyes held hatred and what looked like craziness.

"Nice to see you, too, father." I said. I could see the anger in his eyes, but he couldn't hurt me here, so why was I scared?

"Sam, it might not work but we're going to try to get your memories back." Lily said, smiling.

"How are you going to do that?" I asked.

"By having you travel through them." Dumbledore said. "You haven't, let me say, 'lost' your memories. You merely cannot see them. However, we will help you to see them."

"How's my father going to do that?" I asked. I remembered enough to know some of the horrible things he had done and how I killed him.

"You needed to have a family member that you knew who is dead right now for this to work. It'll help you see the memories of your family." Lily said. All of a sudden, I was seeing my father beating my mum. I was too small to help her. Scene after scene showed of my father hurting my mum, siblings and me. Then the scene that had played through my nightmares for years after it happened. The scene seemed to happen too fast to really know what was going on. Beelzebub Riddle was soon laying on the ground, dead. The scene changed to the good memories of my childhood. I was playing with my siblings. My mum was singing me a lullaby. Going to Hogwarts, the one place I felt truly safe as a kid. All of my childhood memories seemed to come in a huge wave. Suddenly, I was back in the white area.

"Okay, that should cover your childhood memories. Do you remember most of your childhood now?" Lily asked.

"Yes." I said. I was in a state of shock after what I had just seen. Maybe they were going to get all of my memory back. Suddenly, I was at an Order meeting. Voldemort was gone. I'm training to become an auror. I've passed. I'm working as an auror for a couple of years. Trying to find Sirius Black. I try to stun Harry, Ron, and Hermione after the 422nd quidditch world cup. Harry in the Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort returning. The Order regrouping. Having to tend to stupid Umbridge's stupid needs. Dumbledore leaving. The ministry accepting that Voldemort had returned. Dumbledore dying. Being asked by Severus to help the school.

"Okay, we have just the past two years to cover." Lily said. "You might have a slight delay in remembering some things when you return to the real world, so don't be alarmed."

"Did you see most of the memories between the first and second war?" Dumbledore asked, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Yes." I managed to say before I was pushed back into my memories. Severus's caring face as he worried about my injuries. Amycus torturing me. Meeting Samuel. Samuel raping me. The Order defying the ministry. Finding out about being pregnant. The Battle of Hogwarts starting. Being bit by the Basilisk. Hermione, Harry, and Ron rushing in. So many people wounded. So many dead. Helping to locate Death Eaters. Matilda being born. Living at Hogwarts. Accepting the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher post. Teaching students. Severus and I on Halloween. Christmas Day. Samuel taking Matilda. Depression. New Year's Eve. Severus saying he loved me and my love for him.

"Is she awaking?" I heard a voice say as I blinked the sleep out of my eyes.

"Sam!" my mum screamed as she tried to hug me. I hugged her back after a moment, confused. I was lying in a white hospital bed.

"Why are you guys freaking out about me waking up?" I asked.

"Thera, you've been asleep for five days." Richard said. "We were worried that you wouldn't wake up. I was worried that I would lose my baby sis."

"I remember that you were the fun one when we were little and was always doing some crazy stunt, like making a spell that will make someone look like a balloon." I said with a smirk. They looked shocked. "Where's Matilda?"

"You remembered!" Ivy screeched as she hugged me. "Matilda is right here." Breaking away from the hug, Minerva stepped up and handed me Matilda.

"What else do you remember?" Poppy asked as she handed me a potion to drink. I wrinkled my nose at the foul smell.

"Almost everything." I said. I talked to everybody until Poppy shooed them all out so I could rest. I didn't do that, though. Instead, I played with Matilda and helped her walk around the room. Poppy didn't like that I wasn't resting, but I managed to convince her to let three people in at a time. I sat in the white bed and talked to my family and friends for the rest of the night. At around nine, Severus came in. I'm glad I was the only patient.

"Hello, Severus." I said. He looked extremely agitated.

"Sam, on New Year's Day, you said your last name is 'Riddle'. Why is that?" he asked. I sighed. I knew I'd have to tell him eventually.

"That's my actual last name. I changed it to my mum's maiden name after my father died. I didn't want anyone to know about me being related to him." I said. Glad I finally got that off my chest. Now Severus will probably yell at me and never talk to me again. Or understand. Hopefully understand.

"Show me your left arm." He said coldly. I pulled up my sleeve and showed it to him. The small Dark Mark was there. I couldn't feel it burn, which was a good thing. He pulled my purple sleeve back down. Neither one of us said anything for a moment.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. Oh no. He didn't understand. His eyes had a hurt look in them.

"I'm sorry, Severus. I truly am." I said. He didn't say anything. He just stood up and walked out the door. Well, things couldn't have gone worse.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Professor Lechen?" a student exclaimed as they took a seat at their desk. It was my first day back to teaching after a four week break.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You-you're back?" the student said, confused.

"Yes, I am back. It just so happened that most of my memories were returned to me a few days ago." I said. It had been like that all day. Why was it so shocking that I was back? I didn't worry about it too much. I had other things on my mind. Matilda and I had moved back into my quarters. Ginny was very happy at my return. She said it was a lot gloomier in the classes, even though Lupin was teaching. The students did seem very happy when they saw me, even though they did look a little shocked. I was happy to be back. The only problem was Severus. Two weeks went by and he still would barely look at me! I thought he would be happy that I have my memories of him back, but instead he's upset. I really don't understand him.

"Sam." Minerva said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I have a present for Matilda's birthday." We were sitting at the teachers' table eating dinner. I almost forgot that Matilda's birthday is tomorrow, February 10th.

"Thank you, Minerva." I said, taking the present. "You don't mind if I open it now?"

"Of course not. It's close enough to her birthday." I opened it up to find a beautiful pink dress with red and white hearts on it.

"Thank you. I now know what she's wearing tomorrow." I said. I put it back in the box it came from and finished eating. I headed back to my quarters and played with Matilda until it got late. The next day, Matilda got tons of presents from students, coworkers, and family members. Wow. I never knew my baby effected so many lives. Later that day, I went to my mum's house with Matilda for her first birthday party. We arrived there on broom at four.

"How's my favorite youngest sibling and her daughter?" Richard asked as he hugged us.

"Good, yourself?" I asked.

"Great." I'm so happy your memory is back!" he said. "I missed having my smarty pants little sister telling me everything I'm doing wrong." I punched him hard in the arm. I'm not that strong, so my hard is most people's light.

"Hey S-girl!" Ivy called as she came out of my mum's small house. "Sup?"

"Not much, I-girl. Has the party started?"

"Not without Matilda!" my mum exclaimed as she came running out of the house. "Come on, we need you two to come in and eat dinner!" The five of us walked into the house. It was so full of people that I could barely breathe. I was immediately attacked with hugs from all sorts of family members. I didn't recognize some of the people that hugged me, that's how huge my family is. My mum quickly had us sit at the table and eat dinner. After that, she pulled out a huge chocolate cake with icing on top in the shape of blue, pink, and purple flowers on it and red letters that spelled out _Happy First Birthday Matilda!_ Matilda couldn't blow out the candles, so I did it for her. Everyone had a slice of the delicious cake that had been enchanted to have enough slices for everyone. After dessert, we opened presents. There were diapers, a pacifier, little people sets, dresses, pajamas, a baby blanket, and so many other things.

"Hey, Sam." My Uncle Stephen said. "How's Matilda been?"

"Great. She's started walking. I love her more than anything." I said. Just then, everyone screamed as a patronus flew into the house. It was a cat.

"The Death Eaters are coming to Hogwarts and your house and they have some sort of creature!" the cat said in Minerva's voice.

"Everyone, we need to leave this house, now!" Richard yelled. "Those who want to help Hogwarts, come with me. The rest, go to a different location." I moved as quickly as possible. I ran through the scared people and found my mum.

"Take Matilda and go with some family members to their home, now. Keep my baby safe!" I said as I handed her Matilda and her baby bag. I ran over to Richard before she could respond. I quickly sent a patronus to Minerva so that she would know help is on the way. More people screamed as the bobcat zoomed out of the house.

"Sam, is Matilda safe?" Richard asked when I reached him through the crowd. A good chunk of my family had joined him. I nodded a yes to him. "Good. Now, take Ivy with you on your broomstick. Send a patronus if we won't be able to apparate outside the gate. Hurry!" I grabbed my broom and ran out of the house. Ivy was waiting for me outside.

"Finally, now let's go!" she said. We mounted the broom and took off. We got there in about three minutes. The battle hadn't started yet. I sent a patronus to Richard telling the coast is clear. Ivy and I flew through the entrance hall and into the school. It was then when I realized that I didn't know where they were. Good thing I spotted Nick.

"Hey Nick!" I called out to him. The nearly headless ghost turned to face me.

"Hello Professor. The others are in the Great Hall." He said. Somehow he always knows what I'm thinking.

"Thanks, Nick." I said. Ivy and I flew to the Great Hall. Some of the students were already being sent back to their dorms. It wasn't going to be a major battle like I had thought. I landed right up by Minerva.

"Are there any more of you?" Minerva asked, hairs spreading out of her bun.

"Of course. I think most of my family showed up." I said. "They should be here any second."

"Good." She said. "Now, I need some people to lead airstrikes."

"I'll take Remus, Tonks, Ivy, and anyone else who wants to join." Richard said as he came bounding in. The rest of the jobs were divided up. I was going to be with the ground attack. I was outside on the grounds. The sun was setting and it was getting dark. I could see people on the horizon along with something floating. It couldn't be dementors; the plants would've had ice on them. No, it must be the creature Minerva mentioned. But then, a cruel voice sounded from behind me.

"Hello, everyone! My name is Beelzebub Riddle, Samanthera Lechen's father."

 **Author's Note: But he's dead! Dun, Dun, Dun! (: Again, sorry for the long wait. Thank you to the one anonymous person who has reviewed. Thank you for reading this even if you're not reviewing. I do really appreciate reviews! Even if you don't have a fanfiction account you can post a review. It'll just say sent by anonymous. I'm begging you guys on my hands and knees, please review!**


	13. Nothing Seems For Real

**Author's Note: Parts of this are really sappy. I'm not super good at sappy parts, so tell me if it's cheesy and I'll try my best to learn from my mistakes. If you know whose patronuses are mentioned, then I'll be really happy. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter Thirteen: Nothing Seems For Real**

I turned around and saw him. I tried to stun him, but he dodged. Because he said his last name's Riddle, a group of people had gathered around us. He shot a spell at me. I blocked it easily.

"Hello, father. I thought you were dead, or did you find a way to slither out of that too?" I said coldly.

"You really are something from hell." I said. "Father, you know how you died last time. Do you really think you won't die the same way?" His eyes got a confused look. He quickly covered it up, though.

"Murdered? I don't think so." He said with an evil grin. "No one could kill me, and that's the truth! I tell the truth, unlike you. You even changed your last name so you could lie to everyone here! Do they even know your real last name? Do they know your uncle?" he taunted. We started circling each other.

"My last name? It's Lechen. As for my idiot uncle, he thought the world revolved around him!" I said.

"What's your uncle's name?"

"Tom Marvalo Riddle, or as he liked to be called, Lord Voldemort." I said. Gasps of shock went through the small crowd around us, none wanting to intervene.

"I see not many people knew that. What about your left arm? Has anyone checked?"

"You know I've always despised your kind. People who aren't really people."

"You didn't answer my question." He said, an evil, crazed smile on his lips.

"Indeed they have. But seeing that I have faithfully followed the Order since forever ago they believed my story. Well, Dumbledore did do Legilimency on me to make sure."

"So you're saying he didn't trust you?"

"He needed to make sure my brain wasn't damaged by the severe damage my wonderful siblings decided to put me through." I said coldly.

"I believe they were helping me get news to our lord."

"What a lord he is, considering a one year old boy destroyed him and then was killed sixteen years later by said boy. Then his brother decides to come back from hell and confront his daughter." I blasted him with a spell, but it didn't hurt him. He just started laughing.

"I told you, Samanthera, I won't be murdered again. But did I mention I'm not human?" He said. His eyes turned red and horns appeared on the top of his head. His skin got darker until it was jet black with blood red lines. Dark red wings sprouted from his back and his fingers turned to claws. People screamed, but I did not flinch.

"Well, I see some of your friends are arriving." I said. More of the creatures were arriving. People started screaming as they attacked them. Spells started being shot. However, the spells were only effecting the few Death Eaters that showed up. People started running to the castle, the only choice to not get attacked. Some of them were stopped halfway there. My father flew off and I ran towards the castle. I wanted so badly to turn around and help the people who had fallen to the ground, but many of them were already being surrounded by the strange creatures. I was almost there before I tripped and fell. A few people ran over me, causing me to be pushed to the ground in pain. Then, someone pulled me to my feet and ran me to the castle. Everything was a blur. Once we were there, I collapsed on the ground and looked up at my savior. It was Severus.

"Thanks, Severus." I asked, out of breath. Once I managed to catch my breath I continued. "I have an idea, but it might not work. They remind me a lot of dementors. Maybe we can get rid of them the same way."

"It might just work." He said, pulling me to my feet. I walked up to the edge of the castle. For some reason, they wouldn't come inside. I stood there for a moment before doing anything.

"Expecto Patronum!" I screamed to the sky. With a wave of my wand, a snake came out and let into the line of creatures. A few of my family members were shocked to see me producing a snake instead of a bobcat. I looked at Severus. He came up to my side and produced his own patronus. Instead of a doe, it was a bobcat. He put his hand out and I took it in mine. Minerva walked up after a moment. Her cat flew out. I noticed an otter, jack russel terrier, stag, two wolves, and so many others join ours. The creatures were being driven away. If they didn't move, the patronuses would choke them until they did. Sense they couldn't attack us, the creatures started attacking the Death Eaters. The patronuses faded after a few minutes. I turned to Severus.

"Do you forgive me?" I asked.

"Yes. I shouldn't have gotten upset. I guess I was mad that you didn't trust me." He said in his silky drawl, not meeting my eyes. "It was hard staying mad at you."

"I feel the same way." I said. "Now let's stop being all mushy gushy and help the people that are hurt."

"Good idea, love birds!" Minerva said, coming up to us and shaking her head. "I never imagined Poppy being right about something, but I guess it had to happen sometime." I went over to some of the people who were lying on the ground and started healing some of the simple cuts that were caused by falling. Then I noticed a body I thought I recognized that people were already gathering around. The Dark Mark was above it. I finished healing the kid I was working on and went over to the unmoving body. I knelt down beside him and stroked his cheek before checking for a pulse.

"Richard!" Ivy screeched when she saw him.

"Ivy, go get Poppy, please. I can't lose him." I said. My voice sounded weak and frail. I healed up a gash that had opened up in his leg with a wave of my wand. His eyes still wouldn't open. When Poppy arrived, I stayed by him. I couldn't leave my brother, who happened to be the closet with to a father I had. About a minute after Poppy arrived, she looked at me.

"Sam, send a message to your mother." She said. I tried making a patronus form, but it was only wisps of silver light. I looked at Severus, who was having a seventh year drink a potion and a silver snake came out of my wand and went into the direction of Hogsmeade. I turned my attention back to Richard.

"He always helped the right side, didn't he I girl?" I said softly, smiling at the nickname.

"Sure did, S girl." She choked with a sad smile. "He protected us so much from father, and yet we couldn't protect him this once."

"He'll be fine. Our brother always could last through any of father's bursts of anger." I said. I don't care if the stupid students hear new things about me anymore. I just do not care anymore.

"I don't know if he's going to live." Poppy said, desperately trying to fix a rather large gash on his chest. "There's too much damage on his heart." Richard's breathing was getting shallower and shallower. Then an idea came to mind

"Ivy," I said slowly, "I think you should try it on him. For him." Ivy moved her hands till they were directly over his heart. A strange light started coming from Ivy's hands. She pressed them down onto Richard's shirt, just above his heart. He gasped in a sudden breathe. His eyes opened and Ivy pulled her hands off of his shirt.

"Don't move, Richard. You're hurt. Severus should be here soon with a potion that should help." Ivy said softly. He tried to say something, but all he managed was a gurgle before throwing up blood. I can't say that I wasn't a little grossed out.

"Richard, don't try to talk right now." I said, cleaning the blood off of his shirt with a wave of my wand.

"I. Can. Take. Care of. My. Self." He managed to say.

"Not at the moment." My mum said as she came over. She knelt down beside him and started talking with Poppy about what to do. With my father being who he was, my mum had a lot of experience healing cuts made from dark magic.

"Maybe that would work, Ms. Lechen." Poppy said. "I will make sure to do that."

"Oh, call me Janet. I figured it out myself, you know. My parents tried to keep me from magic, but I was ever so curios about herbs and potions." My mum said.

"Why did they try to keep you from magic?" Severus asked as he put a potion to Richard's mouth.

"I'm a squib. They hated me for that, but I don't care. They're just happy their grandchildren aren't like me." She said with a light laugh.

"Where's Matilda?" I asked my mum. It hadn't clicked in my brain that my mum was here without Matilda.

"With Minerva on the other side of the grounds. You should go and get her." She said.

"Keep him safe. If he dies, I'm blaming Ivy." I said. This got Richard to smile and Ivy to stick her tongue out at me. I took off and searched for a couple minutes before finding Minerva with Matilda.

"What was the last Dumbledore said to us?" she asked, pressing her wand into my neck once I reached her.

"Give me my daughter or face my wrath?" I asked. Minerva's wand didn't move. "Trust in Harry. He knows something you don't." Minerva's wand lowered and she handed me Matilda a long with her bag. I stared at Minerva for a moment.

"Sorry, had to make sure you weren't a Harlpon." Minerva said.

"How could you put all of us in such danger?" I asked. "My brother, my rock, may now be dying thanks to you not even telling us what to expect. And the cat's out of the bag. The students know." I couldn't help the few tears that made their way out.

"Sam, you know I didn't know what we were facing." The older woman said. "And I'm really sorry about Richard."

"I just can't believe Richard could-" I started crying and Minerva wrapped me in a hug.

"Richard's a tough cookie. He'll be fine." Once I had finally stopped crying Minerva let go. "Now you should probably go back to him and make sure he's okay."

"Thanks Minerva." I said with a light smile.

"Anytime, Sam." I headed back towards where Richard had been laying, but Richard had already been moved to the hospital wing. I stood outside for a moment, looking at the horizon. I felt someone's arm go around my shoulders. It was comforting. The three of us stood there for a minute until I looked at the person.

"Severus, thank you." I said, brushing my tears away. I hadn't even noticed I had started crying again. He took the hand that wasn't on my shoulder and brushed the rest of the tears away.

"You shouldn't be thanking me. I don't deserve it. After how mean I was to you." He said softly.

"I love you." I said.

"I love you, too." He said as he leaned down and kissed me in the cheek. All of a sudden, he was in front of me. He went down on one knee and pulled a box out of his robes. I gasped in shock as a tear trickled down my cheek. I was smiling so hard, I thought my face was going to break.

"Samanthera Jane Riddle Lechen," he started in his lazy drawl, "you have captured my heart. I couldn't ever imagine living without you by my side. When we met eighteen years ago, I knew there was something about you. As we've grown closer these past three years, I've realized how much I need you. Lily may have clouded my vision, but with you I can see clear. Sam, will you do me a great honor and marry me?" He opened the box to reveal a ring.

I didn't know what to say. I felt there were no words fit to respond. I leaned down, Matilda still in my arms, and kissed him. When we broke apart, I managed to find some words to answer him. "Yes, I will marry you." I said breathlessly. He slipped the ring onto my finger. It was a small diamond with two blue sapphires on either side.

"Do you like it?" Severus asked as he stood up.

"It's beautiful." I said, pulling him in for another kiss. We separated and headed inside without another word.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Samanthera Jane Lechen! You've got explaining to do!" my mum said when she saw the ring on my finger.

"Mum, quiet down or Poppy will kick us out and Matilda will be upset. Now don't worry, I'll explain." I said as I sat down in an open chair next to Richard's bed.

"Sam, you're already dead, so what's the point of trying?" Richard said with a smirk. His short black hair was a mess, reminding me of a Harry Potter without glasses and a scar.

"Yeah, Rich is right, for once." Nathan, one of my other brothers, said with a smirk.

"Look, I can take care of myself." I said. "I happen to have known this person for eighteen years."

"Oh really? And you've never told anyone this?" my mum said with her hands on her hips. "Sense when have you been dating this mystery man?"

"It's been a couple months." I lied. "And his name is Severus."

"Severus Snape?" Richard, my mum, Nathan, Thomas, Sarah, and Alexandro said with a gasp. Is my family really that blind to not notice how I was acting around Severus during the small little battle?

"Yep, that's the one." I said. My four brothers stared at each other and my sister and mum stared at me.

"He's a twerp. A twit. I should know. I was in his year." Alexandro said.

"You can't betray our family and run off with a greasy muggle hating git!" Sarah shrieked. Wow she's high pitched.

"He doesn't hate muggles! You guys just never got to know him like I did!" I said, hurt that they didn't except him.

"He's rude and mean! Not to mention a former Death Eater! He even has a dark mark!" Nathan said. He did not just go there! Oh no he didn't! I could see my family's shocked faces as I moved up to Nathan and pulled my left sleeve up.

"Nathan, does this make me evil. Do you all disown me for it?" I asked coldly. When he didn't answer, I pulled my left sleeve back down. I turned around and started walking to the door before I stopped. "Get better, Richard." I said without looking back at him. I walked around. I didn't even know where I was going. I soon found myself in the dungeons, knocking on a door.

"Severus, we need to talk about something." I said when he opened the door. He moved aside to let me into his rooms. When I walked in, I was in the living room. I sat down on the dark green couch with Matilda and closed my eyes.

"Do you want something to drink?" Severus asked as he closed the door. He looked worried.

"Do you have brandy?" I asked. He nodded. "Then I'll take a glass, please." He disappeared through a doorway. He came out a moment latter with two glasses. He handed me one before sitting down next to me.

"What is the problem, Sam?" Severus asked, concern and caring showing clear in his inky eyes.

"My mum saw the ring, so I had to tell Nathan, Alexandro, Richard, Sarah, Thomas, Ivy, Richard, and my mum about us. They don't approve. Say you're a spy for the other side, trying to hurt me like Samuel did." I said. I took a long drink as Severus thought for a minute.

"I don't care what they think of me. I just hope you know better than they do." He said after a moment. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he put his arm around me. I started crying. Everything that had happened. He got up and grabbed the bottle of brandy and brought it back. He poured both of us another glass. We quickly drained those glasses too. He refilled both of our glasses again and again. Matilda was almost asleep in my arms. I laid down on Severus's lap. I felt safe around him.

"Can we conjure a crib for Matilda? She's almost asleep." I said, standing up. I had to steady myself so I wouldn't fall. Severus conjured one without a word. I laid Matilda down in it and conjured a blanket for her. Her eyes quickly slid shut. I stood there for a moment before laying back down on the couch with Severus. My mind seemed a little blurry. I closed my eyes for a few moments. When I opened them, light was shining in through a window. I quickly closed my eyes.

"Good morning, sleepy face." Severus said from next to me. I opened my eyes again. I looked at his smiling face. I was laying on top of him on his green couch. I smiled back before standing up and stretching. "Don't be too loud, Matilda's still asleep."

"What time is it?" I asked. He stood up.

"About eight." He said. "Do you want to come with me to the Great Hall for breakfast?"

"I'll meet you there in a few minutes. I'm going to use the floo network and go to my quarters to change and drop Matilda off with Minerva. See you in a few!" I said. I picked up Matilda and I kissed him on the cheek before going to the fireplace. I pulled some powder out of my pocket, threw it into the fireplace, and stepped in. Ginny was working on some paperwork and groggily said good morning. I doubt she noticed I was gone all last night. I found Matilda's day bag and changed before opening the door to the hall. Minerva was right outside the door with her hand in the air like she was going to knock.

"Where have you been?" she asked. "I went to your quarters last night and no one was here! Luckily Ginny ran into me and told me you were one your way to visit Richard!" Minerva said.

"Sorry about that. I forgot to tell you I have a life." I said. I took a deep breath in before continuing. "Can you still watch Matilda?"

"Of course I can." She said, taking Matilda out of my arms and grabbed her bag. She stalked away. I walked to the Great Hall, chuckling, and got there in no time. I saw Severus and sat down by him.

"Good morning, Sev." I said, gently kissing him on the cheek as I sat down.

"Good morning, Sam. I hope you slept well." He said with a smirk.

"I did. I know you did too." I said as I grabbed a waffle and poured syrup on it. There's nothing better on a waffle than syrup. He held my hand under the table

"Of course I did. Not." He said. I stared at him with an eyebrow raised, but a smile on my face. He quickly looked away. I chuckled before cutting up my waffle and eating a couple of bites.

"I do think house elves should be free. They do all this outstanding work for us and never get any credit." Hermione said from next to me. She was talking to Hagrid on the other side of her. When she saw me looking at her, she turned to me. "What are your views on house elves, Sam?"

"I think they should have more rights. I know in the world that we live in they probably won't get freed, but we can give them more rights." I said after a moment. Severus snorted from next to me.

"Snape, do you think it's funny that house elves are being abused?" Hermione angrily asked.

"No, I think it's funny that you haven't taken a job in the Ministry." He said with a smirk. Hermione must have noticed that my left hand and Severus's right were missing under the table because she looked under the table for a moment.

"You two are a couple, aren't you?" Hermione said. It wasn't even a question, more like a statement.

"Yep. We're engaged." I said. "How'd you know?"

"Well, yesterday at the battle, your patronus was a snake and his was a bobcat." She said, putting extra emphasis on "his". "Now you're holding hands, and when you got here you kissed him on the cheek."

"Good job, Hermione. Now, I'd really appreciate it if you called me Severus instead of his, him, or he." Severus said. "I have to go, Sam." He said, turning to me and standing up. "I have a class at nine." He kissed me on the cheek before leaving.

"How?" Hermione asked. "How could you be in love with him?"

"I thought you didn't like Severus, Hermione. Or am I wrong and you have feelings for him?" I said. She looked down at her plate, embarrassed, so I continued in a softer tone. "I'm sorry for snapping and about Ron. I can't believe he ran off with Lavender." I stood up and went to my classroom. I figured the discussion was done. Nothing more to say. I do feel bad for Hermione. After Ron had run off with Lavender Brown, Hermione had hated seeing anyone show any affection to someone else. However, she needs to forget about Ron and Lavender. It's strange seeing her act like this. I got to my classroom and walked in. Some students were already there. I got to my desk and sat down and waited for the rest of the students to arrive.


	14. Tear Stains

**Chapter Fourteen: Tear stains**

Weeks went by. Valentine's Day passed by, no one in the mood to celebrate. The Death Eaters were gaining more and more power. Bridges blown up, muggle towns destroyed, and so many dead. Not to mention the rise infiltrators in the Ministry of Magic. And with Dumbledore gone, Hogwarts could easily go downhill too. The good thing is that Minerva is very well trusted and plenty of wizards and witches are scared to fight her. The bad thing is that if Hogwarts falls, Minerva could be murdered by either side.

As for the simple things at Hogwarts, everything was going well. If you ignored the war. Richard had healed and gone home. I'd been spending nights at my quarters with Ginny. Harry asked her out for Valentine's Day and she accepted. They had a good night and are now dating. Severus and I have been making plans for the wedding. I have to write out all of the invitations. I grabbed some parchment and started writing. When I got to Ron's, I added an extra message.

 _Dear Ron Weasly,_

 _I suggest that you come back to London and talk to Hermione. She's barely been able to look at someone with a relationship without throttling them and trying to kill them. You don't kiss someone and act like you love them and then run off with someone else. It's not right! I just hope you don't do the same to Lavender. Also, you're invited to Severus and my wedding on Saturday, June twenty-third. It will be at Hogwart's grounds at three o'clock. I'd also love for you to come on April thirtieth to talk to my fifth, sixth, and seventh year students with Harry at twelve thirty until five about your time running from the Death Eaters and a bit about what the auror business is like for the kids who are interested in joining after school. Harry already agreed to come._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Samanthera Lechen_

I sealed the letter inside of an envelope. Margaret, my owl, who had seen me writing, was waiting for me to finish writing the letter in my office. I handed it to the barn owl and she flew out the window.

"Wedding invitation?" Ginny asked from her desk.

"Yes, and a little side note that told your brother to get back here and talk to Hermione." I said with a smile and a wink. Ginny smiled back. She wanted Ron to make up with her friend. It was weird to see the Hermione Granger falling apart. I continued writing wedding invitations. I wouldn't send them for a few days, since it was only the middle of April. There was still time to spare till the wedding. In the meantime, I have classes to teach, a daughter to raise, and a battle to fight. When I got through the rest of the work I had needed to do, I went into my quarters with Matilda in my arms. Minerva had to drop her off early, so I put some of her toys down on the floor and had begun my work. Now, I set Matilda in her crib, sense it was around eight and she was tired. I stayed up a bit longer to finish the book I had started.

"Goodnight, Sam." Ginny said as she went into her room.

"Goodnight." I said. I closed my book and glanced at the clock. It was ten thirty. I changed into my night gown and went to bed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _Dear Sam,_

 _I would love to come and talk to the students and come to your wedding. As for me, Hermione, and Lavender, I have things under control. If you really want me to, however, I'll talk to Hermione. I doubt it'll do anything, but I'll try. I do have two question. One, how could you marry a greasy git like Snape? And two, is your real last name really Riddle?_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Ron Weasley_

I gave my owl a treat before tucking the letter away. Glad he finally responded. It was only about an hour before the class starts. I headed to my classroom and started grading my papers there. Matilda was with Minerva today since my mum couldn't watch her. Ginny was already there. About a half hour later, Harry and Ron came in loudly laughing about something.

"Hello Harry. Hello Ron." I said. I got up and gave them hugs.

"Hi Ron. Hi Harry!" Ginny said. She hugged both of them too.

"Hi guys." Both of them said simultaneously. They looked at each other and laughed, causing Ginny and me to laugh. Harry and Ron took a seat in the two chairs I had waiting for them by my desks.

"What are you two planning to talk about?" I asked.

"Well, the auror business, of course." Harry said. "And being on the run from Death Eaters and the spells and charms we used to keep hidden."

"Not to mention the dragon and finding the horcruxes!" Ron said. "And basically stay away from any people with the Dark Mark and who are related to Voldemort." I stared at him with an eyebrow raised before sticking my tongue out at him. All four of us started laughing. The students came in a couple of minutes later, surprised to see me laughing and having a good time with two of the golden trio.

"Okay." I said once everyone was there. Nobody ever missed Defense against the Dark Arts, well, except for those who are sick and George Hindburger, but he's another story. "This is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, two of the members of the golden trio. They are here to tell you about what it was like being on the run from Death Eaters and all the stuff they had to do. Gentlemen, the class is yours." I watched them teach about their adventures. They explained about their quest for horcruxes, the dragon they rode, and hiding in the woods. Pretty soon, the hour was up and class was over.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I was back at my quarters with Ginny and Matilda. I was mentally exhausted. The wedding was in two weeks and I also had to prepare my students for finals. Matilda was trying to talk, but her mouth muscles didn't know how to form the words, so she made little noises every now and then.

"So, who are the other bridesmaids?" Ginny asked. We were sitting in the living room, playing with Matilda and her lion, eagle, snake, and badger toys.

"I can't remember." I said. "Some of my family and friends and Severus's family and friends make up most of it."

"Is your mum walking you up the isle?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah. There's no other parent to walk me up. Well, except for my grandparents, but that would offend my mum." I said, standing up. "Come on Matilda, let's give you a bath!" She tried to say something before running to the bathroom. Every once in a while, she'll make me catch her. I'm glad it's not one of those days. When I got to the bathroom, she had pulled off her dress and was trying to take off her diaper.

"Come here, Matilda. I'll help you get it off." I said. Matilda waddled over to me, as she had messed up her diaper and couldn't walk the right way, and I picked her up and turned her on her side. I took off her diaper and started the bath. She climbed into the tub and grabbed for the nearest bottle of shampoo. Sadly, her arms weren't long enough and she splashed in the water.

"Mumdy!" she yelled, clearly frustrated. "Mumdy! Mumdy! Mumdy!"

"Yes, mummy. I'm your mummy." I purred gently, grabbing the shampoo bottle and squirting some onto my hand. She said her first word! I rubbed the shampoo onto her before rinsing her off. I dried her off and dressed before she led me to her room.

"Mumdy." She said, pointing at me.

"Ginny!" I called. "Matilda said her first word!" Ginny came rushing in.

"Mumdy." Matilda said, hugging my legs and looking pleased with the attention.

"Very good, Matilda!" Ginny said.

"Yes, very good. I'm so proud of my little sweet heart!" I said. I picked her up and set her in her crib. Ginny turned off the light as she left, leaving me in the dark with my daughter. I quietly sang until she fell asleep. I got up quietly and went to the door to my room. I opened it before pausing.

"Good night, Matilda. May your wishes come true." I said before stepping into my room.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I woke up once more to the sound of crying. I got up before it registered; that wasn't Matilda crying. I quickly sprang to my feet and got dressed while trying to figure out where the crying was coming from. I thought it was from the kitchen, so I headed there. I was shocked once I got there. There was Hermione, sobbing into Ginny, who was trying unsuccessfully to calm her down.

"What happened?" I asked, cautiously stepping forward.

"Ron." Ginny stated simply, anger showing in her voice. "He talked to her and said that he was sorry that she thought he liked her and that she should treat others with respect even though she's suffering. Not to mention he said Lavender's better than her, only in worse words. The monster."

"I can't believe him." I said, going over to hug both of them. That was when I noticed that Ginny was in tears too. Matilda, who I'm assuming Ginny took out of her crib, came over and hugged Ginny's legs. After a few minutes, we broke apart.

"Th-th-thanks guys." Hermione said. She had stopped crying, but hadn't calmed down completely.

"It's nothing. Now, I don't know about you two, but I'm hungry. Who's up for breakfast?" I asked. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"You're always hungry." She said with a sigh. "Come on, Hermione." Ginny waved her wand and all traces of Hermione's tears. I picked up Matilda and her day bag and walked out the door with Ginny and Hermione right behind me. I slowed down and walked right beside them in silence. We got to the Great Hall in no time and sat down next to each other. I was on the end, next to Poppy (as usual) and Hermione.

"Good morning Sam!" Poppy said with a bright smile on her face. Something was up.

"Good morning Poppy. What's with all the enthusiasm?" I asked.

"Oh, just excited for the wedding!" Poppy said in a very shrill voice. "I just can't wait!"

"Of course you can't. None of us can." Said Ginny. "Like they say, first comes love, then comes marriage-"

"Then comes Ginny shutting up." I said. How annoying could they get?

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it goes." Ginny said with a smile.

"That's how I learned it." I said.

"Sam, Minerva would like to see you in her office at six." Fillius said before walking away.

"Thanks, Fillius." I said.

"Wonder what she wants." Said Poppy.

"Yeah." I said. "Me too."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I walked up the stairs to Minerva's office. Seeing the door already opened, I walked in.

"Minerva, are you there?" I called out.

"Ah! Sam!" said the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. "I haven't talked to you in a while."

"Yeah." I said. "I've been busy."

"With the wedding, I assume?" he said, his eyebrows raising slightly.

"Along with the end of term."

"Just, please be careful in the next couple of months. I have a feeling this war will be over sooner than the last."

"I will be, don't worry." I said with a grin.

"You can get reckless at times."

"I'll be fine."

"Good. I don't want Matilda losing her one and only parent, even though she's going to get a new dad soon."

"Don't be like Poppy. That's all she ever talks about now."

"Well, she has been trying to get you two together for a while."

"She was bound to be right once in her life."

"True, true." He said, the familiar twinkle in his eyes.

"Well, Minerva wanted to have a meeting with me. Do you know where she is?"

"You never get off track, do you?"

"Nope. Where is she?"

"She's… in her rooms. Should be out in a minute." Albus muttered, looking away from me.

"What's wrong with her?" I demanded. "Minerva! Are you okay. A sob answered my call. I ran into her rooms and found her lying on her bed.

"S-Sam." She sobbed. I ran over to her. I sat down next to her and pulled her into a sitting position while gently rubbing her back.

"What in the world is wrong?" I asked, trying to get the older woman to calm down.

"H-h-he still won't accept it!" she screamed.

"Accept what? And who are we talking about?"

"Albus!"  
"Oh."  
We were quiet for a few minutes. Minerva was still sobbing into her hands and I couldn't get her to stop. Finally she calmed down enough to speak.

"H-he won't accept that we were married at one point. Well, at l-least his p-p-portrait won't! A-and staring at that portrait and hearing his voice is m-making me feel so g-guilty! I sh-should've stopped him from planning his ow-own death."

"None of us knew what he was doing besides Severus. And you know that Severus did everything Albus asked of him. Even this."

"That's what I hate!" Minerva bellowed, making me jump up from the bed. "He convinces everyone his ideas and plans are the best and then leaves them after they've done his work for him, even if they're distraught and empty inside!"

"Minerva," I whispered, sitting back down on the bed. "I hated that part of him too. The part that was always plotting and planning, even if it was for our side. It scared me. But he knew everything would work out. And it did. His plan worked. And remember, he was going to very slowly die anyway."

Minerva stopped crying. After a moment or two she turned her head and looked me in the eye. Her eyes were red, showing that she had been sobbing, but the red hot anger was still there.

"Everything worked out?" She bellowed. "He's dead! Sirius is dead! Countless others are dead! And you say his plan worked out?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" I shouted, shocked at her sudden outburst. Her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, you didn't mean it like that, did you?" she snarled. "How about you figure out what you meant by 'everything worked out' out of my sight!"

I got up and left without another word, or glance at either the mourning woman or the confusing portrait.


End file.
